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James Milner 16-year-old playing for Leeds United, Premier League, November 2002

Can you name Leeds United’s XI from James Milner’s debut in 2002?

The eternal James Milner has been a professional football for more than two full decades. Over 20 years have passed since he made his debut for boyhood club Leeds United against West Ham in November 2002. How well do you remember it?

We’re asking you to try and name the Leeds starting line-up from the first time a fresh-faced 16-year-old Milner stepped onto the pitch for the first time.

The highly-rated young academy wasn’t named in the starting line-up, but Terry Venables turned to him off the bench in the late stages of a seven-goal thriller away to West Ham. The youngster came on in the 84th minute while Leeds were holding onto a 4-3 lead at Upton Park.

Leeds went into half-time cruising. They were 4-1 up, with their strikeforce on fire. But things got a bit dicey when Glenn Roeder’s Hammers fired back with two goals through Paolo Di Canio and Trevor Sinclair.

Rather than turn to experience off the bench, Venables called upon young Milner, who helped Leeds see out their narrow advantage and return from east London with all three point.

Milner wasn’t quite Leeds’ youngest-ever appearance-maker. That’s club icon Peter Lorimer, who was just 15 years and 289 days old when he made his debut against Southampton in September 1962.

“I was pleased for the lad, it’s a big step making your debut and I just wanted to give him the experience,” said Venables.

The following month, Milner became the Premier League’s youngest-ever goalscorer, scoring on Boxing Day against Sunderland, breaking a record set earlier that year by Wayne Rooney. The record has since been broken again by James Vaughan at Everton, but Milner still remains the second-youngest.

He’s since gone on to receive 61 caps for England and make over 800 club appearances, representing Newcastle United, Aston Villa, Manchester City and Liverpool. He’s won three Premier League titles, two FA Cups, two League Cups and the Champions League.

Can you name the 11 players that started for Leeds when he made his first-ever appearance? Our time to beat for this quiz is 01:56. And if this gives you the taste for another quiz, try naming Leeds United’s top 30 Premier League goalscorers.

If you haven’t already, sign up for a Planet Sport account to access hints for those tricky answers and to register your score on the leaderboard.

Good luck, and don’t forget to tweet us your scores @planetfutebol


NEXT QUIZ: Can you name every player to appear for Leeds under Marcelo Bielsa?