Bayer Leverkusen's Florian Wirtz sets new Bundesliga scoring record
Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz has become the first player under the age of 19 to score more than 10 Bundesliga goals.
Already a serial record breaker and maker, the 18-year-old penned his next entry in the record books when he opened the scoring on 21 minutes in Leverkusen's 3-1 win away to RB Leipzig on Matchday 13.
Not only was the goal his fifth in the league in 2021/22 - a new single-season best for the Germany international - it was also the 11th of his senior career, making him the first player to score 11 Bundesliga goals before turning 19. His birthday, incidentally, is not until 3 March next year.
“I think almost every game he makes some kind of history," Leverkusen goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky told bundesliga.com after the final whistle when asked about the prodigious teenager. "Like I’ve said a thousand times he’s working hard on himself and I’m glad I’m playing with him at the moment. It’s a pleasure to watch him.”
Wirtz smashed in his first back in June 2020 against Bayern Munich at the tender age of 17 years and 34 days, making him the Bundesliga's youngest ever scorer at the time.
Watch: Hradecky: "It's a pleasure to watch Wirtz"
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He followed that up last season with scored five in 29 appearances, cementing his reputation as one of Europe’s most exciting young talents, before winning the first of four senior Germany caps to date in September this year.
Indeed, the early stages of the 2021/22 campaign saw Wirtz net four times in his first five matches, while he has also laid on six assists this season, the same total he reached last campaign. This means that the 18-year-old has been directly involved in 11 goals this Bundesliga season, with only Robert Lewandowski (15), Thomas Müller (15), Erling Haaland (14), and Marco Reus (12) involved in more.
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