After being left out of the weekend’s game against Real Sociedad in La Liga, Mastantuono was handed a start on the European stage on Tuesday. He became the third-youngest foreign player to debut for Real Madrid earlier this season against Osasuna and followed that up by becoming the youngest player to start for the club in a Champions League game, breaking a record set by Endrick. The teenage-sensation played 63 minutes in the game as Madrid overturned Timothy Weah’s opener with two Kylian Mbappe penalties.
After the game, the Madrid star spoke highly of the young Argentine and opened up about his relationship with Mastantuono.
“I’m happy things are going well for him and happy to have a close friend from Argentina. It’s good to share training sessions and conversations with him. He’s like a little brother to me,” the Uruguayan said. “I’m going to try to support him and tell him that he’ll always have many more opportunities with this badge, that he’ll have thousands of chances to score, that he’ll score thousands of goals and win millions of titles. Let him continue enjoying what he plays at the Bernabeu, because not everyone can play there.”
Mastantuono joined Madrid from River Plate this summer on a six-year deal, where he had already established himself as a top prospect. On the international stage, he became the youngest player to debut for Argentina at 17 years and 296 days and made history by wearing the iconic No.10 shirt in Messi’s absence earlier this month.
Los Blancos will return to La Liga action against Espanyol on September 20, and the Argentine is expected to feature again as Xabi Alonso continues to integrate him into the first team. Still only 18, the midfielder has already broken records with club and country, and with the manager’s backing, Madrid fans believe they have found another star for the future.
