Atalanta vs Real Madrid | Champions League Only Munir has done it before
Zinedine Zidane has had to call up six players from Castile to make up the numbers in his Real Madrid squad for the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie away at Atalanta, and one of those players is Sergio Arribas.
The 19-year-old has played for the first team on six occasions so far this season and he has shown his qualities as a playmaker, most recently doing so after coming on as a substitute in the 1-0 win against Real Valladolid last weekend.
Arribas has already made his Champions League debut, having come on against Borussia Monchengladbach at Valdebebas, but if he plays against Atalanta on Wednesday night it would be his debut in the knockout stages of the competition.
The Madrid-born player was part of the Real Madrid team that won the UEFA Youth League under Raul Gonzalez last summer, and he is the only member of that squad that has appeared in the Champions League thus far.
Out of the youth players that Zidane has called up, Arribas is the one that is the most likely to actually feature against Atalanta. This, therefore, opens the possibility for him to add the Champions League crown to his Youth League one.
There have been some exceptional talents that have played in the Youth League – Kylian Mbappe, Joao Felix, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Matthijs de Ligt, Jadon Sancho, Leroy Sane and more – but only Munir El Haddadi can boast having won the Champions League at both senior and youth level.
The current Sevilla forward was the star of the Barcelona team that won the first edition of the Youth League in 2014, ending the tournament with 11 goals. Shortly afterwards, on September 17, 2014, Munir made his Champions League debut for the Barcelona against APOEL. That season, the 2014/15 campaign, ended with Barcelona lifting the European Cup in Berlin.
Munir featured in three group-stage games that season, and it was at this point of the tournament that he made all nine of his Champions League appearances for the Blaugrana. He had to watch the 2015 final against Juventus from the stands, because he was not named in Luis Enrique’s 18-man squad.
Now, six years later, Arribas is aspiring to match Munir‘s feat, and perhaps even with the bonus of having featured in the knockout rounds.
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