Barcelona defender follows Babayaro’s unwanted UCL record

Celestine Babayaro’s unwanted record of being the youngest player to be sent off in the UEFA Champions League still stands but the ex-Nigeria international has a new follower in the pecking order of the record.

The new follower is Barcelona defender Pau Cubrasi, who became the second youngest player to be sent off in UCL history on Wednesday night.

The 18-year-old was dismissed after 22 minutes, in Barcelona’s 1-0 win over Benfica in their first leg UCL round of 16 tie, following Babayaro in the order of the record as recorded by football statistics website Opta.

“At 18 years and 42 days old, Pau Cubarsi is the second youngest player to be sent off in UCL history after Celestine Babayaro in 1994 (16 years and 86 days).”

Babayaro set the record while playing at Anderlecht in 1994.

He was sent off in their 1-1 draw against Steaua București.

That was the only red card the player received in the competition as he went on to make 16 Champions League appearances, scoring one goal plus two assists.

That is aside from five UEFA Champions League qualifying matches where he made five appearances and scored one goal as well.

The 46-year-old also enjoyed his career at Chelsea from 1997 to 2005 and then at Newcastle for another three years before joining MLS side LA Galaxy in 2008.

The Nigerian won the UEFA Cup Winners Cup and UEFA Super Cup at Chelsea in 1998 as well as other domestic titles in Belgium and England.

He was also part of Nigeria’s historic gold medal team in the men’s football event at the Atlanta 1996 Olympics.