Barcelona narrowly defeated Dynamo Kiev in their Champions League Group G game on Wednesday evening.Ronald Koeman's side took the lead in the fifth minute through Lionel Messi.The Argentine was felled inside the box and he brushed himself down to convert the resulting penalty.Gerard Pique then added a second after 65 minutes to double Barca's lead.Viktor Tsyhankov pulled one back with 15 minutes remaining but it was too little, too late for the Ukrainians as Barca held on to all three points.
The score-line would have looked even worse for Dynamo Kiev had it not been for their young goalkeeper, Ruslan Neshcheret.The 18-year-old, who was making his Champions League debut and was featuring in just his second game for Dynamo Kiev, was only in the side because their two first-team goalkeepers tested positive for COVID-19.But he didn't let the occasion get to him as he produced a quite extraordinary performance.In total, he made an incredible 12 saves, which is the joint third most made by a goalkeeper in a single game in Champions League history.Eight of those saves came from shots inside the box.His highlight was undoubtedly an incredible stop to deny a Messi free-kick.The Argentine looked to have perfectly found the top corner, but he was denied by a brilliant stop from the 18-year-old.
He was given Man of the Match for his performance and scored a 9.1/10 rating on WhoScored.com.
You can watch his highlights from the game below:
Imagine producing a performance like that at the Nou Camp at the age of just 18.
It genuinely was one of the best performances produced by a goalkeeper in Champions League history.
The youngster clearly has a very bright future and he spoke to the media about his performance after the game.
"It was like being in a fairytale," he said, per Goal. "Playing at this great stadium in such a game is a dream for any footballer.
"Messi's penalty was very good. He's one of the best in this aspect. We were really happy to have a chance to play against such top opponents."