Dário Cassia Luís Essugo (born 14 March 2005) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for La Liga club Las Palmas on loan from Sporting CP.
Essugo was born in Odivelas, Lisbon metropolitan area of Angolan descent, and joined Sporting CP's youth academy at the age of 9.
[2][3] On 16 March 2021 he signed his first professional contract[4] and, four days later, before he had even appeared in a match for the junior, under-23 or reserve side,[3] he made his debut in the Primeira Liga with the first team, coming on as a late substitute for João Mário in a 1–0 win against Vitória de Guimarães; at 16 years and 6 days, he became the youngest-ever debutant in the club's history.
[5][2] On 7 December 2021, Essugo became Portugal's youngest player to debut in the UEFA Champions League, when he took the field in the second half of the 4–2 away loss to AFC Ajax in the group stage aged 16 years and 268 days.
[6][7] He broke another club record the following 5 March, when he surpassed Luís Figo as the youngest starter at 16 years, 11 months and 17 days in a 2–0 home victory over F.C.