Former Tottenham Hotspur starlet Marcus Edwards made his mark in the Champions League this week - joining an exclusive club of English players in the process.
While a number of England's Lionesses have moved to the best teams on the continent - including Barcelona's new world record signing Keira Walsh - things have been different in the men's game. Edwards is just the ninth among a select group of players to score a Champions League goal for a non-British side, albeit not the first this week.
The 23-year-old was on target for Sporting CP as the Lisbon side recorded an impressive 3-0 victory over reigning Europa League champions Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany. His goal came less than 24 hours after England international midfielder Jude Bellingham found the net for Borussia Dortmund as the Bundesliga side won by the same scoreline at home to FC Copenhagen.
Edwards has taken a round-about route to the top after beginning his career on the books of Tottenham Hotspur. He played just once under then-manager Mauricio Pochettino, spending time out on loan at Norwich City and Dutch side Excelsior before making a permanent move to Vitoria de Guimaraes in 2019.
Some impressive domestic form prompted Sporting boss Ruben Amorim to bring the winger to Estadio Jose Alvalade in January, with young winger Jovane Cabral leaving the club in the same window. He made his Champions League debut two months later against Manchester City, and has now got off the mark in the competition with a goal in his first start.
Edwards is now the fifth English player to score for a non-British side since the start of the 2018-19 season, per Opta. Only four players had done so in the 26 previous seasons, with all of the first four and none of the last five scoring for Real Madrid.
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Between 1992-93 and 2017-18, the only English players to score in the Champions League for a non-British club did so for the 14-time winners. Steve McManaman was the first to do so when he netted for Real Madrid in the 1999-2000 final, with David Beckham, Michael Owen and Jonathan Woodgate finding the target in subsequent seasons.
More than a decade passed between Woodgate's goal against Rosenborg in 2015 and Jadon Sancho's for Dortmund against Atletico Madrid in October 2018. However, the former Manchester City youngster's achievement was followed by four more English scorers.
Bellingham came next, scoring his first European goal in the 2020-21 season against Manchester City and adding four Champions League and Europa League goals since. Fikayo Tomori scored his first Champions League goal against Liverpool in December 2021, one day before Angel Gomes found the target for Lille at Wolfsburg, and Edwards has now made it nine.
The total might already be in double-figures had Lukas Nmecha not switched his international allegiances to Germany. The England under-21 international, who came through Manchester City's academy with Sancho, scored twice for Wolfsburg in last season's competition.
