Manchester City midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi
Ayyoub Bouaddi impressed on his full Manchester City debut as Enzo Maresca's side beat Porto in the Champions League
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Ayyoub Bouaddi made his senior debut in a European competition aged just 16, so perhaps it was no surprise to see Enzo Maresca entrust the Manchester City star with a spot in the midfield in Porto.
Bouaddi's first senior appearance saw him take to the field in the Faroe Islands, facing a team in KI whose ground wasn't up to UEFA standard and so were playing 'home' matches 30 miles away on a different island. The crowd was a little over 2,000. Bouaddi had turned 16 just three days earlier and became the youngest player to feature in any UEFA men's club competition.
Few who were watching that Conference League encounter would have thought the slight teenager in Lille's midfield would be an £81million superstar with an eye-catching World Cup campaign under his belt fewer than three years later.
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Bouaddi served real notice of his talent with a sensational showing against Real Madrid in the Champions League as Lille stunned the Spaniards 1-0 a year later and Bouaddi, on his 17th birthday, was given a standing ovation by the home crowd.
"This game changed everything," Bouaddi reflected to L'Equipe after that contest. The changes have now led him to City.
On Tuesday night he was handed his full debut in the pouring rain in the intimidating Dragao Stadium against a confident, classy and canny Porto side in front of nearly 50,000. The setting was a long way from that Faroe Islands fixture but everyone knows by now that Bouaddi is not fazed by such surroundings.
"He's quite calm," said City boss Enzo Maresca of the Morocco international earlier this season. "He doesn't look 18, he looks mature. We need to go slowly because he is very young. It is my job and from the club to try to manage him in the best way, don't put pressure on him, we know that he is young so he needs time."
Maresca decided the time was now on Tuesday night and paired Bouaddi with Enzo Fernandez in the heart of the City midfield. He didn't look out of place.
He went on one marauding run forward in the opening moments and showed his positional awareness to cut out a Porto attack 17 minutes in. Nobody touched the ball more than the Morocco international in the first quarter of the contest and midway through the half he won the ball back high up the pitch which led to Erling Haaland heading over.
Bouaddi then made one fine incisive pass into the box that sparked two quickfire chances for Haaland and Rayan Cherki, both well saved by Diogo Costa.
At the break, the 18-year-old had completed all 39 of his 39 passes, the only player on the pitch with a 100 per cent success rate. By the time he was replaced with 15 minutes remaining, he ended with 55 passes and a match high 98.2 per cent accuracy. Metronomic is one word.
It wasn't a flawless showing, nor would you expect it to be on his first start for the club. City lost their way a tad after going one up, albeit Porto upped their intensity and the crowd were raucously fuelled by a perceived sense of injustice against some refereeing decisions.
Bouaddi tired a touch but it was telling that he was trusted by his manager to play past the hour. The first two midfield changes saw Antoine Semenyo and Cherki replaced.
Bouaddi eventually trotted off 15 minutes from time to congratulations from his manager and to be replaced by Mateo Kovacic, a player 16 years his senior. Bouaddi turns 19 in a few weeks, he can be a mainstay of the City midfield for a decade or more. From the Faroes to Porto and beyond, his journey is just beginning.