For the first time in nearly a decade, a Latvian player has scored in the UEFA Youth Champions League. 18-year-old Robert Kukulis made a stunning impact off the bench, scoring one goal and providing an assist to inspire Inter Milan U-19 to a 2-1 away victory over Union SG.
The Latvian U-19 international, now in his third season with the Italian giants’ academy, entered the match in the 79th minute with Inter trailing 0-1 and in desperate need of a spark. That spark came from Kukulis himself. In stoppage time, he was quickest to react to a rebound in front of goal, calmly slotting home the equaliser. Just four minutes later, he showed maturity beyond his years – holding off defenders inside the box before laying off a perfect pass for a teammate to fire in the winning goal from the edge of the area.
Kukulis became the first Latvian to score in the UEFA Youth League main stages since Andrejs Cigaņiks, who found the net for Bayer Leverkusen’s U-19 side in November 2015.
These were Kukulis’s first goal contributions in this season’s UEFA Youth League, where he has featured from the bench in all three matches. Playing regularly for Inter’s Primavera side, he has scored once in six league appearances this season, following an impressive 2024/25 campaign where he netted 16 goals in Italy’s U-18 championship.
With this victory – Inter’s first in the league phase – the Nerazzurri have now five points with one win and two draws in three matches. Their next Youth League fixture comes on November 5, when they host Kairat Almaty U-19.
