Kanu's Champions League Record Still Unbroken After 31 Years

After 31 years, with many close calls, the record set by Super Eagles great Nwankwo Kanu as a young player in Vienna still holds strong. It will stay that way for at least another year. PETER AKINBO reports.

Former Nigerian striker Nwankwo Kanu is still the youngest player ever to win the UEFA Champions League. This is after Arsenal's efforts to find a player to beat his record ended in disappointment on Saturday night in Budapest.

Paris Saint-Germain defeated Arsenal 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw at the Puskás Aréna. Gabriel Magalhães missed Arsenal’s last penalty, allowing PSG to keep the trophy. This loss dashed Arsenal’s hopes for their first European title in 140 years. It also meant Kanu's record remains intact.

Max Dowman, just 16 years old, was named among Arsenal’s substitutes for the final. The idea of the teenager surpassing Kanu was one of the biggest stories of the match. Dowman sat on the bench in Budapest, and if Arsenal had won and he played, Kanu’s record would have been rewritten.

Instead, Kanu's legacy stays.

Kanu won his Champions League medal on May 24, 1995, in Vienna at the age of 18 years and 296 days. He joined Ajax two years earlier, coming from Iwuanyanwu Nationale. He had wowed everyone at the 1993 U-17 World Cup in Japan, scoring five goals as Nigeria lifted the trophy.

Ajax quickly moved to sign him, and he became part of one of the best young teams in European football history, Louis van Gaal’s squad that included Clarence Seedorf, Edgar Davids, Marc Overmars, Patrick Kluivert, and Finidi George. This team would shape football for many years.

Kanu scored 12 goals in all competitions during the historic 1994/95 season. Ajax became the first, and so far only, team to win both their domestic league and the Champions League without losing a game.

Kanu played a big part in that run. In the quarter-finals against Hajduk Split, he scored the first goal in the 39th minute, helping Ajax to a 3-0 win. In the semi-final second leg against Bayern Munich, he came off the bench in the 67th minute as Ajax won 5-2 to reach the final.

In Vienna, against the defending champions AC Milan, Kanu came on for Seedorf in the 53rd minute. He pushed hard for the first goal and nearly scored. But it was Patrick Kluivert who scored the winning goal in the 85th minute to clinch the trophy.

Three players from that Ajax team hold the top three spots for the youngest Champions League winners. Kluivert is second at 18 years and 327 days.

Dowman is not just any competitor. The Arsenal teenager made history as the youngest player to appear in the Champions League at just 15 years and 308 days. He also broke the record for the youngest Premier League scorer with a stunning goal against Everton. He will have more chances. But on Saturday night in Budapest, as Gabriel’s penalty went over the bar and PSG’s players celebrated, the challenge fell short again.

Thirty-one years after Vienna, King Kanu still holds his throne.