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#4 Romelu Lukaku comforts Benfica's young goalkeeper after his error leads to a defeat
Mile Svilar, the youngest goalkeeper to ever start a UEFA Champions League match at the age of 18, made his debut against a high-flying Manchester United side for Benfica in Gameweek 3 of the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League.
He would have hoped to make a strong first impression by putting in a good performance after just making his full debut for the team the previous week against a second division Portugal side. But, what the night turned out to be was a nightmare for the youngster.
Due to Jose Mourinho's pragmatic approach in crucial away games, this game started as another dull affair with United hesitant to attack fiercely. At the hour mark, Marcus Rashford's free-kick looped into the box which should have been an easy catch for the keeper.
But Svilar was off his line. Backpedalling, the young Belgian stopper claimed the ball, but as he did, it crossed the line, handing United the breakthrough at the Estadio da Luiz. The match concluded with that solitary goal coming from the error making the difference, United running out winners on the night.
At the end of the game, Lukaku gave the fans a moment to remember as he walked to his fellow countryman Svilar and consoled him. He spent about 30 seconds with the goalkeeper providing him words of comfort and encouragement and hugged him a few times, a moving gesture of sportsmanship from the striker.
Slowly but surely becoming a fan favourite at United, the Belgian forward gave another reason for fans to appreciate him.
“Yeah, it was nice,” Svilar said after the defeat. “He [Lukaku] just said that I don’t have to worry, continue to work and it will be okay.”
It was a lovely gesture of sportsmanship at its finest from the United players, especially Lukaku, who shares his hometown with the Benfica goalkeeper. Those words would have definitely done a world of good for the goalkeeper's confidence, and would have given him the power to not back down and come back stronger.
Moments like these are exaclty what football needs.
