At 86 minutes and with Porto 2-0 up against league-leaders Famalicão, Tiquinho Soares was withdrawn for 17 year-old Fábio Silva. Just two minutes later Silva made history by becoming the youngest FC Porto Primeira Liga goalscorer at 17 years and 3 months old, 2 months younger than previous record holder Rúben Neves.
Fábio has been talked about in Porto and beyond for the last couple of years and it seemed it was only a matter of time before he got his first Primeira Liga goal. Chances have been few and far between so far this season for the youngster with just 4 appearances and 0 starts in the league. In the league matches in which he has featured, he has only played 11, 12, 1 and 4 minutes respectively.
He led FC Porto to their first ever UEFA Youth League earlier this year as the U19 side beat Chelsea 3-1 in the final. His record in the Youth League that season? 5 goals and 4 assists in just 9 games. These numbers paint a picture of a player who was seemingly born to score goals. His youth record at Porto at various levels speaks for itself. For the U17 side he managed 31 goals in 33 matches, he then made the jump up to U19 football, his incredible goalscoring continued as he managed 33 goals in 39 matches. Even at international level he is beginning to make headlines, just over 2 weeks ago his performance for Portugal U19 stole the show, scoring a hat-trick in 42 minutes as the junior Seleção beat Italy 4-1.
He recently scored his first competitive goal for the Dragons in the Taça de Portugal clash with Coimbrões, breaking another record by becoming FC Porto’s youngest goalscorer in all competitions. He recently became Porto’s youngest European appearance maker too after featuring in the Europa League against Feyenoord!
(You can watch his Taça goal below courtesy of VSPORTS (Silva’s goal is around 4 minutes in).
The jump up to senior football is the biggest test of all and it will be interesting to see how much he is utilised by Conceição for the rest of the season, but with FC Porto still active in every competition they are involved in (Primeira Liga, both domestic Taça’s and the Europa League), I think we are going to be seeing a lot more of Fábio Silva as the season goes on!
