That's made him more fancied for the accolade than the likes of Harry Kane, Antoine Griezmann and Eden Hazard - incredible work at such an earlier point in his career.
Next up for Salzburg? A trip to Liverpool, where Virgil van Dijk will have to be at his very best in order to keep the youngster quiet.
The stats behind the performance:
VAR has divided opinion, but it's great to slot into some Edwin Starr lyrics and make a headline when it doesn't work as planned.
Liverpool's defence of their title started away at Napoli where, like last season, they were beaten in Italy.
It was a fairly even contest with both sides seeing their fair share of chances. However, Napoli hit late with two goals in the final ten minutes.
The big talking point came when Andy Robertson was adjudged to have brought down Jose Callejon in the penalty area.
Dries Mertens then converted from the spot in the 82nd minute and that set Napoli on their way to victory with a rare van Dijk error allowing former Tottenham striker Fernando Llorente to seal the result.
While Robertson did kick out for the ball, there are question marks surrounding how much contact he actually made with Callejon to cause him to fall.
After the game, Jurgen Klopp said: "I could say a lot of things about it but then I would look like a bad loser. I'm not the best loser in the world but I'm not bad at it.
"It was very decisive in that moment for sure but we can't change it. As long as human beings make the decisions then there is still potential for (mistakes). The rules are like this and we trust in the rules."
VAR, huh, wha...ok we'll avoid that one again - but Chelsea were quite literally handed a late lifeline as they trailed 1-0 at home to Valencia.
Rodrigo gave the LaLiga side the lead when he took advantage of some poor marking from a free-kick with 74 minutes on the clock.
As the hosts pushed for an equaliser, Fikayo Tomori's header was blocked by Daniel Wass with instant appeals from those in blue shirts.
On review, the correct decision was made that Valencia handled the ball inside the area and the penalty was given.
However, an argument ensued between the Blues' regular taker Jorginho, Ross Barkley and Willian. Barkley had only come on eight minutes earlier but he took responsibility.
Whether it was excitement for the upcoming Rugby World Cup (which you can read all about here) or maybe the memory of Ben Stokes' Headingley heroics still being fresh in the mind, the midfielder blasted his penalty onto the crossbar and over.
It led to discussions off-the-pitch as to why Chelsea hadn't arranged an actual taker. Lampard though, made it clear that Barkley was right to go to the spot.
"Ross is the penalty taker," he said. "He took some in pre-season and he has been when he has started, and he was today when he came on.
"I don't know what conversation was, but Jorginho and Willian were penalty-takers until Ross came on the pitch."