Daily Mail Sport experts name their favourite performances by wonderkids

  /  autty

Tuesday night's match between Chelsea and Barcelona was billed as the battle of the teenage superstars, and it didn't disappoint.

Eighteen-year-old Brazilian wonderkid Estevao, managed to upstage his fellow teenage superstar Lamine Yamal, scoring a wonderful solo effort in the 55th minute to announce himself on the world stage.

The future is bright for the pair who were born three months apart in 2007, and are considered the two most valuable teenagers in world football.

Daily Mail Sport's writers have gone back through the archives in search of the match that delivered the most jaw-dropping performance ever produced by a teenager.

Norman Whiteside v Arsenal, 1983 - Oliver Holt

The impact he made has been lost a little over the years, perhaps because he was forced to retire early because of injury, but there was something startling about the precocity of Norman Whiteside.

In some ways, he was a precursor to Wayne Rooney, a kid in a burly man's body, and he was brilliant to watch when he made his Manchester United debut as a 16-year-old late in the 1981-82 season. He played for Northern Ireland at the 1982 World Cup and still holds the record for the youngest player ever to appear at the finals. He was only a year older than me, which made him incredibly relatable when I was standing on the Stretford End at Old Trafford.

He was a beautiful reader of the game and a fine finisher who played a key role in United's two FA Cup-winning campaigns in 1983 and 1985, all as a teenager. The performance that stands out for me was his display in the 1983 FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal at Villa Park when Whiteside, who was 17 by then, scored a stunning volley to win the game.

When I went to university, the t-shirt that I wore because I liked to think it marked out my identity had a picture of Whiteside on the front with the words: 'Norman's red, Norman's white, Norman's f*****g dynamite.'

Jack Wilshere v Barcelona, 2011 - Matt Barlow

Jack Wilshere made his Arsenal debut at 16 but this was his breakthrough season, and this was the game when Arsene Wenger’s excitement about his progress made sense.

It was February 2011, in the last 16 of the Champions League against the best team in the world, Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona complete with prime Lionel Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta. Wilshere had turned 19 in the previous month and was the best player on the pitch, playing in the centre of Arsenal’s midfield.

He wasn’t flickering around the edges. He was at the heart of the game. Taking passes on the half turn, beating the first challenge with a drop of the shoulder, driving tempo and stitching passes with the outside of his left boot, moving Arsenal forward.

Wayne Rooney v Arsenal, 2002 - Dominic King

Arsene Wenger said it best. 'He's supposed to be 16,' the then Arsenal manager winced after Wayne Rooney had sprung off Everton's bench and scored a goal of quite majestic beauty in October 2002. The boy who played football like a man and became a man who played football with the joy of a boy.

Never forget what Rooney was doing as a teenager, for Everton, then Manchester United and England. His breakthrough moment, which invited Clive Tyldesley to proclaim 'remember the name!' was one of the Premier League's greatest moments. If you need a reminder of how good he was, just consider his debut for Manchester United as an 18-year-old ended with him scoring a Champions League hat-trick against Fenerbahce.

We have seen many teenage prodigies on Merseyside and another personal memory is Robbie Fowler's five-goal haul against Fulham in September 1993. Familiarise yourself with some of his strikes to see how good he was.

Kylian Mbappe v Manchester City, 2017 - Lewis Steele

I really wanted to go with Nick Powell for Crewe Alexandra against Cheltenham in the League Two play-off final, 2012. My first trip to Wembley as a fresh-faced 15-year-old myself on a great day out in the sun following my hometown club. Powell moved on to Manchester United a few weeks later and I thought he would be a future England international. But alas.

Instead, I will go with Kylian Mbappe playing for Monaco against Manchester City in Pep Guardiola’s first season. I had seen players like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo play at the Etihad Stadium… but no one had tore modern-day City apart quite like this phenom. Pace, power, trickery, finishing, touch, he had the lot.

I said to myself that day: this boy will go right to the very top. But then again, I said the same about Powell and he is now playing for, er, League One Bradford City while Mbappe is the main man at Real Madrid. Shame how it works out sometimes.

Ross Barkley v Swansea, 2013 - Riath Al-Samarrai

Although he was 20 by the time I saw him play and had made a handful of experiences for Everton across the previous two seasons, but in 2013-14 he broke through. I was covering south Wales at the time and he ran the game against Swansea before lashing in the winner from a free-kick.

Not long afterwards he was being compared to Gazza, so maybe we got carried away. But he was an immense talent - two excellent feet, that Rooney-like ability to stay upright when bigger men came thundering in and an ability to read where the play was heading coming two or three passes in advance. He had made England’s World Cup squad by the end of that season.

Emile Heskey v Southampton, 1996 - James Sharpe

For a boy forging his early footballing memories in the freezing stands at Filbert Street, there were few more exhilarating sights than a teenage Emile Heskey bulldozing his way through defences and leaving opponents scattered in his wake.

Long before he became an unfair figure of fun later in his career, this fellow local lad from Leicester had the lot: pace, power, deadly in the air, ruthless in front of goal.

His brace at Filbert Street in his first home game in the Premier League against Southampton showed just that: smart movement to get ahead of his defender and turn in a cross from close range before picking up the ball miles from goal, shrugging off one tackle before rifling a 30-yarder into the top corner.

Eighteen years old and unplayable.

Related: Arsenal Chelsea Aston Villa Manchester City Luton Town Real Madrid Barcelona Al Nassr FC Messi Rooney Ronaldo Wilshere Guardiola Arsène Wenger Barkley Mbappe Inter Miami CF
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