Why FC Bayern will be even more unpredictable with Lennart Karl – Analysis of a historic evening

As Wednesday dawned in Munich, Lennart Karl had no inkling of the good fortune that awaited him. "I only found out this morning that I was playing", the 17-year-old revealed later - beaming happily while holding the ‘Man of the Match’ award. The youngster had been on the pitch for less than five minutes following his first start in the Champions League when he achieved something incredible: With a breathtakingly tight, lightning-fast run, he dribbled through four bewildered Belgian defenders, first feinting one way and sprinting the other before hammering the ball into the top right-hand corner with his powerful left foot to give his side a 1-0 lead. "I had a good feeling about the situation and then I just had a go," said Karl. A goal so cool and classy it gave everyone goosebumps!

Four months younger than Jamal Musiala

"He did really well," said an impressed captain Manuel Neuer: "Lennart is difficult to defend against and has a great finish - you could see that with the first goal." It was a goal like a painting - with which the Reds' attacking talent made history: at 17 years and 242 days old, Karl is now FC Bayern's youngest scorer in Europe's premier club competition. Jamal Musiala previously held the record, but he was four months older when he scored his first Champions League goal against Lazio at Rome's Olympic Stadium in February 2021. "He simply has the gumption," remarked an impressed Aleksandar Pavlović: "He showed that again today: he took his chance, scored a terrific goal and had an impressive game overall. I'm very happy for him."

That superb opener against Club Brugge after four minutes and 17 seconds was also the record champions' fastest goal in the Champions League since August 2020, when Thomas Müller scored in the fourth minute of an 8-2 win over Barcelona. And it was immediately obvious what this goal did for FC Bayern and their opponents: the Belgians had started the game boldly after beginning their campaign with an emphatic win over Monaco and only narrowly losing 2-1 to Atalanta after taking the lead. The first shot on target at the Allianz Arena also came from Brugge after less than two minutes. But that was the best they could muster on this magical evening - Karl's goal cut Brugge to the quick and radically erased any hopes of a potential upset. From then on, only one team played, passed and dominated: FC Bayern.

Harry Kane's 20th goal in 12 competitive appearances

The post was the only thing that stopped Pavlović from making it 2-0, but the goal came just afterwards when the very active Konrad Laimer played an excellent low pass across the front of goal, where Harry Kane arrived for a tap-in (14th minute). It was the striker's 20th competitive goal in his 12th game, making it the first time in his professional career that he's scored in eight consecutive matches - a staggering 14 times, in fact!

On the other hand, you almost had to feel sorry for the dismayed visitors: with a quarter of an hour gone, FC Bayern had amassed over 66 per cent possession and already had five shots on target. "They're probably the best team in Europe right now," admitted Germany U21 international Nicolò Tresoldi: "You hardly get any chances, they do such a good job, and they showed that again today," said the Club Brugge striker.

The hosts continued to play with great verve - unbridled, seemingly unleashed, with one attacking wave after another sweeping over the Belgians, who struggled to keep their heads above water. Whenever Brugge did manage to relieve some of this immense pressure, Bayern's defence were ruthlessly effective: Jonathan Tah and Dayot Upamecano, Pavlović, Kimmich, Laimer - all of them combined to aggressively nip any hopes the visitors might have had in the bud. Even Michael Olise put in a huge amount of legwork to get back and help out by winning balls.

Luis Díaz then made it 3-0 after another great assist from Laimer: The Colombian drilled the ball under the crossbar with his right foot (34'). It was already Bayern's ninth shot on goal at this early stage - Karl had previously been denied his brace when his effort went wide by just a few centimetres. When referee Donatas Rumsas whistled for half-time in what was an extremely one-sided game, Díaz had just failed to beat Brugge goalkeeper Nordin Jackers in a one-on-one situation and Kane had hit the crossbar with his follow-up shot. "The key is that winning is simply fun, and you can see that," said Manuel Neuer: "You can see how much we're enjoying every game."

26:5 shots on goal in a one-sided encounter

And that's how it continued in the second half: one-way football from a free-flowing FC Bayern, who were a little too wasteful here and there and lost a little concentration and consistency in their finishing, given the big lead. At any rate, Harry Kane failed with his fifth shot on goal while one-on-one with Jackers after an exquisite pass from Díaz (58') - meaning the striker alone had already created more attempts than the entire visiting team put together.

"We were chasing them 80 per cent of the time, you can't win like that,“ said an annoyed Nicky Hayen, the visitors' coach: "We weren't at 100 per cent, we were too frightened in certain situations." FC Bayern worked on getting more goals - they would have needed five to snatch the lead in the CL table from PSG after their thrashing of Leverkusen a day earlier. But they only scored one more, with Nicolas Jackson hitting the back of the net from a tight angle to make it 4-0 and put the finishing touches to what was a one-sided affair: the final tally was 26:5 shots on goal.

"We could perhaps have scored more goals, but we didn't concede and played a very good home game overall," said coach Vincent Kompany: "Some young players also showed that they can help us this season - that was important and a good performance by the whole team."

“We want to win every game“

After 12 wins from 12 competitive matches, the team now head into the upcoming games brimming with confidence - in the league, in the cup and in the Champions League. That's where the acid test against the defending champions will take place on 4 November in what will be a clash of giants in Paris: "Of course, PSG and Arsenal are big opponents. But we want to win every game," said Kompany. Keep doing that and they might just achieve a very big goal at the end of the road.

The free highlights of the match against Brugge: