He’s faced both Patrick and Justin Kluivert – and he’s still playing in the Premier League

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It’s not often that you hear of a father-son duo playing in the same team, or even for the same team in two different generations at best.

But for one current Premier League hero, he’s done the unthinkable and played against the same father duo – both coming in the English top-flight.

Of the players who have done it all in football, you can typically count upon trophies and goal tallies to signify just how successful those world-class stars are.

But Premier League stalwart James Milner, formerly of Leeds United, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Manchester City and Liverpool, has a different achievement in his locker – by now playing with and against a father-son duo during his career in the top-flight.

The Leeds academy graduate, now at Brighton, is just 11 appearances from breaking Gareth Barry’s record of 653 outings in the competition – and two of those have seen him share a pitch with one of his former teammates and his son.

James Milner has shared a pitch with Patrick Kluivert and Justin Kluivert in the Premier League

James Milner and Patrick Kluivert joined Newcastle in the summer of 2004, although they didn’t share a pitch together for a while owing to substitution timings – including Milner replacing Kluivert in a 2-1 win over Southampton early in the season.

They eventually accrued minutes together in a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace in November of 2004. Then, almost 21 years later, Justin Kluivert was substituted on in the 66th minute of Bournemouth’s 2-1 win over Brighton back in September, whilst Milner was brought off just a minute later.

Although it was only for 60 seconds, the ex-England international shared a pitch with his former teammate’s son – an incredible feat showing his professionalism.

Milner alluded to such an interesting stat himself, saying: “There are lads I played with at the start of my career whose sons I’m now playing with or against.

“Justin Kluivert, I played with his dad [Patrick] at Newcastle.

“I played with Bobby Clark at Liverpool and played with his dad [Lee] at Newcastle; Tommy Watson’s girlfriend is Ian Harte’s daughter.”

To put into perspective how long ago Milner made his debut, Sven-Goran Eriksson was England manager, his eldest Leeds teammate was Nigel Martyn who is now 59, and Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ campaign under Arsene Wenger was still a pipedream.

Newcastle icon Patrick Kluivert isn’t the only father-son Premier League duo to feature against James Milner

Amazingly, Milner might not be aware that the Kluivert bloodline isn’t the only father-son duo to have featured against him in the Premier League.

Milner featured for half an hour against Manchester City goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel in January 2003, in what was a 2-1 defeat for Leeds at Maine Road. 16 years down the line, he then scored against Peter’s son, Kasper, in a 2-1 win for Liverpool at Anfield against Leicester City – made even more interesting by the fact that both players were captaining their sides.

The list doesn’t stop there. Former England international Paul Ince competed in the middle of the park against Milner when he was winding down in his career at Wolves, in a 3-1 win over the then-Leeds youngster in December 2003.

And, just under 14 years later, Huddersfield Town star Tom Ince was the victim of a 3-0 loss to Liverpool with both players playing the full 90 minutes.

Meanwhile, young Tyrese Campbell was on the bench for Stoke City in 2017-18 but didn’t feature, and he would’ve been another to add to the list, given Milner played against his father Kevin for 11 minutes in a 2-0 loss for Leeds at Everton in February 2003.