When was Harvey Elliott born and how old was he when Edin Dzeko made his European debut?
- Planet Sport writer
- 16 February 2022
Teenager Harvey Elliott was handed his first Champions League appearance against Inter Milan in the San Siro on Wednesday evening.
The 18-year-old, who has only just recovered from the horrific ankle injury which sidelined him for almost five months, was one of four changes from Sunday's Premier League win at Burnley for their last-16 first leg tie in Italy.
In making his debut, Elliott became Liverpool's youngest player in the Champions League, excluding qualifiers. Aged 18 and 318 days, he surpassed team-mate Trent Alexander-Arnold who was 18 and 354 days when he featured against Spartak Moscow in 2017.
It pitted him against Inter's 35-year-old former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko who actually made his European debut when Elliott was just five months old.
Elliott was born on April 4, 2003 in Chertsey, Surrey, and the following August Dzeko was an unused substitute as Bosnian side NK Zeljeznicar negotiated a UEFA Cup qualifying round tie against Anorthosis Famagusta, beating the Cypriot side 4-1 on aggregate.
A midfielder at the time, he remained on the sidelines as Zeljeznicar lost 2-0 to Scottish side Hearts in their first round, first leg clash on September 24.
However, with the second leg goalless and Zeljeznicar heading out of the competition, Dzeko was introduced for his first taste of European football with 27 minutes remaining.
Unfortunately, his introduction failed to inspire any further scoring as Hearts progressed to the second round.
Nevertheless, despite a less than auspicious debut, Dzeko has since gone on to make a further 109 appearances in European competition, scoring 50 times.
