Kenan Yildiz secured another piece of history in Juventus' win over Genoa

03/30/2025 04:38 PM

This kid seems to be pretty talented.

Juventus starlet Kenan Yildiz entered the 2024-25 season with plenty of hope attached to his teenage shoulders. Not just because of his new jersey number that is the most-storied couple of digits in bianconero, but

Yildiz made a bit of history in Juventus' opening Champions League fixture this season back in September, becoming the youngest Bianconeri player to score in the UCL, a record previously held by his idol, Alessandro Del Piero. He added his name to the record books in Juve's Derby della Mole victory over Torino back before the November international break.

On Saturday, he again made some history.

With his stunning solo effort that proved to be the game-winning strike against Genoa at the Allianz Stadium, Yildiz equalled a mark another familiar name to Juventus fans within the last decade, Moise Kean. It was Yildiz's seventh Serie A goal as a teenager, pulling him even with Kean for the most goals from a Juventus player before their 20th birthday during the league's three-point era. And just like with his first-ever Champions League goal that gave him a little bit of bragging rights over the man who celebrates each goal like, Saturday's strike now gives Yildiz one more goal in Serie A before turning 20 — which will happen on May 4 — than that same Del Piero fella who was the subject of multiple songs from the Juve ultras during the win.

Not bad for somebody like Yildiz who had not scored against league opposition since that same Turin derby win in early November.

Saturday's goal was Yildiz's fifth in Serie A and seven in all competitions this season. He's certainly had his ups and downs in terms of both his overall form as well as the reported issues with now-former manager Thiago Motta over the last month or two before the Italo-Brazilian's firing over the international break.

One more goal and Yildiz will have officially doubled his total from all competitions last season when he scored four goals in 32 appearances, with all but 10 of those off the bench.

The difference this season, of course, is that Yildiz has been a much bigger piece to the Juventus puzzle no matter if it's Motta or now Igor Tudor as his manager. Within the next few weeks, assuming he continues to be in the starting lineup, he will have played three times as many minutes as he did under Max Allegri during the 2023-24 campaign.

After Saturday's win, Yildiz has played 2,853 minutes in all competitions this season. Last year, he played 1,096 minutes between Serie A and the Coppa Italia.

Yildiz still has another month to add onto this total and break the tie he currently has with Kean in terms of goals scored in Serie A as a teenager with Juventus. His 20th birthday comes on a day in which fourth place could very well be on the line, when Juventus will face the team that is directly in front of them in the league table, Bologna, at the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara.