Chelsea crushed a lethargic Liverpool 2-0 to knock them out of the FA Cup, thereby destroying their hopes of a treble-winning season. And teenage sensation Billy Gilmour turned heads after a brilliant midfield display which earned him the man of the match award.
Before joining Chelsea in 2017, Gilmour played for Rangers FC in his birthplace Scotland where he developed his career.
Gilmour joined the U-18 Chelsea side and marked his debut against U-18 Arsenal with a goal and went on to score in each of his first three appearances.
In July 2018, after turning 17, Gilmour signed his first professional contract with Chelsea.
Chelsea manager Frank Lampard gave Gilmour his senior debut on July 10, 2019, in a pre-season friendly against Bohemians in Dublin. In the 2019 UEFA Super Cup against Liverpool, Gilmour was an unused substitute.
Billy Gilmour | Twitter
The 18-year-old made his Premier League debut on August 31 against Sheffield United, coming on in the 84th minute for Tammy Abraham. In the 7–1 EFL Cup win against Grimsby Town on September 25, Gilmour played the whole match which marked his complete debut.
Gilmour has 19 goals and 14 assists in 82 appearances overall in all formats.
He's a part of Chelsea's first-team squad on a regular basis since February 2020.
And in last night's game against Liverpool, Gilmour replaced Jorginho to start with Ross Barkley and Mateo Kovacic in the midfield.
Billy Gilmour - Man of the Match | Twitter
The highlight of the game was when he humiliated Liverpool's Fabinho with a fancy nutmeg.
Watch the fancy skill below:
Gilmour, in a chat with BBC, expressed his opinion on his head-turning performance.
"It was a good match, so it was," Gilmour said. "I've been training very hard to get this chance and today I stepped up and took my opportunity - it was a great game and a great victory."
Gaffer Frank Lampard too recognised Gilmour's talent and did not hold back from praising the young lad for his performance.
"What an incredible performance for a young player," said Lampard.
"He was a calm head in that first five or 10 minutes. He's a throwback of a midfielder.
"Can you put your foot in? Yes. Can you make angles to play the passes? Yes. He's only slight in stature but he's huge in personality. He deserves people to talk about him after a performance like that."
Watch a compilation of his performance against Liverpool below:
Here is how the fans reacted:
Gilmour earned praise from football greats with Alan Shearer being one of them. Fans even compared him to the legendary Spaniard midfielder Xavi.
But is one performance enough to earn comparisons with the likes of Xavi? The young lad had a brilliant game, no doubt but it is far too early for such comparisons. It wasn't too long ago that Jesse Lingard was called the next Iniesta and we all saw how that turned.
Hype can destroy teenagers as we saw with the likes of Adnan Januzaj and Nicklas Bendtner.
And what happened to Liverpool's Joe Cole who was 'termed' as good as Lionel Messi?
Chelsea players Lucas Piazon and Bertrand Traore were considered 'The Next Big Thing'. While one is a part of Chelsea's loan army, the other was eventually sold.
A swallow doesn't make a spring and one good performance doesn't create the next megastar.
