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Champions League’s youngest and oldest scorers hold on to records for another year

Nick Watkins

11:20 20/05/2018

With only a week to go until the Champions League Final between Real Madrid and Liverpool Mohammed Salah has one game left to add to his impressive tally in what has been a record-breaking season for the Egyptian.

Salah has already broken the Red’s record for goals in a single Champions League campaign (10) along with a number of domestic records in his debut season for the club.

However, there are two Champions League records the forward, or anyone else on the pitch on Saturday, will be able to break. Aged 25, Salah has a long to go before he can become the oldest Champions League scorer, and is also far too old to be the youngest ever scorer in the competition – but who holds the feats, we hear you ask.

Old guard: Totti and Giggs

Ryan Giggs, who lifted the trophy twice in his Manchester United career in 1998-99 and 2008-09, held the oldest scorer record for a few years after he netted against Benfica in 2011-12 Champions League season. The Welshman was the ripe old age of 37 years 290 days, when he scored with a thunderous left footed effort.

Giggs couldn’t match the even more impressive feat set in 2014 however, when at grand age of 38 years and 59 days, Roma’s Francesco Totti bagged from 25-yards out against CSKA Moscow to extend his record as the oldest scorer in the history of the competition. (Totti actually broke Giggs’ record scoring against Manchester City in a 1-1 draw earlier in the 2014 campaign).

Totti spent his entire 25-year career at Roma and won one Serie A once, along with the World Cup with Italy in 2006. A true Champions League veteran, Totti played in numerous seasons at the top level of European football but failed to lift the European trophy.

While the names Giggs and Totti are both instantly recognisable, you’ll be forgiven for not remembering much about the careers of Mateo Kovačić and Peter Ofori-Quaye – the Champions League’s youngest ever scorers.

Croatian-born Kovačić struck from a matter of feet for Lyon against Dinamo Zagreb in a 1-7 victory in December 2011 aged just 17 years 216 days. The incredible win saw Zagreb progress to the knockout stages but suspicions arose about the scoreline causing the French betting authority to investigate the win, amid claims of match fixing.

The Croatian was just 21 days short of breaking the youngest scorer record set by Peter Ofori-Quaye back in 1997. It took just nine minutes for Ofori-Quaye to score for Olympiacos after coming on as a substitute in a 5-1 loss to Rosenborg.

Despite his early heroics, Ofori-Quaye never lived up to his early promise and seven goals in his first season was as good a tally as he would rack up and, still just 23, he was released in 2003.

Octo Finissimo Automatic A Third World Record for Bulgari

Bulgari is once again the spotlight, proudly presenting its third successive world record.

The Octo Finissimo Automatic is the slimmest ultra-thin self-winding watch on the market to date.

After introducing its Tourbillon in 2014 and the Minute Repeater in 2016, the Maison unveils its new creation featuring a total thickness of just 5.15mm, while its self-winding movement is just 2.23mm thick for a 40mm diameter.

The iconic Octo is once again pushing the boundaries of watchmaking feasibility.

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