The 17-year-old Lennart Karl starred for Bayern Munich as the Bundesliga leaders fought from two goals down to beat Freiburg 6-2 and match an old record on Saturday.
Karl, who was making his ninth league appearance and second start, delivered a timely message to Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann before the World Cup next year by instigating Bayern’s comeback with a goal, assist and sparkling play.
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“Lenny … It’s always so difficult,” Bayern head coach Vincent Kompany said in his news conference. “When you score six goals, there’s a lot of players who participated.
“For sure, the most important action they had was when we scored the 2-1. They created this phase. There was a lot of quality. Not many players can do it, but this gave us the momentum back. And then everything that happened after was the good performance of many players.”
The teen star, who already made history this season by becoming the club’s youngest Champions League scorer, entered the record books again Saturday as the youngest Bayern player to both score and assist in a Bundesliga game.
Only one player younger than Karl has accomplished that feat for any Bundesliga team — former Borussia Dortmund striker Youssoufa Moukoko, who managed it in a 3-1 win over Freiburg in August 2022.
Michael Olise also starred in Saturday’s win by scoring two goals and setting up three more.
Bayern, who would have remained top even with a loss, matched their 52-year-old record of 43 consecutive rounds atop the league. They will beat the record regardless of the result in the game against St. Pauli next weekend, after they face Arsenal away in the Champions League on Wednesday.
“Any record that’s lasted for this long is probably quite impressive a performance. But we don’t focus too much on records,” Kompany said.
“I think we’ve gained confidence but also at least mental sharpness from this game for the things that didn’t go well as well.”
Freiburg capitalized on Bayern’s passive start with Yuito Suzuki and Johan Manzambi scoring after corners inside the first 18 minutes. It was the first time Bayern had fallen behind at home this season.
Karl replied four minutes later after controlling Olise’s ball with his left foot and scoring with his right, and the youngster returned the favor for Olise to equalize before the break.
The irrepressible Karl might have scored again after the break, only he had a would-be goal ruled out after a VAR check for offside in the buildup.
Dayot Upamecano scored from Olise’s corner and Harry Kane added to his league-leading tally on the hour mark.
Karl went off to resounding applause in the 71st after taking a knock to his hip, leaving Olise to set up substitute Nicolas Jackson for the fifth in the 78th. Olise completed the scoring in the 84th, set up by Hiroki Ito, who was making his first appearance of the season.
Up next for Bayern is one of their toughest tests of the season so far when they face one of only two other teams to have maximum points from four Champions League games so far, Arsenal.
“The next game is another home game in the Bundesliga — and of course in between you’ve got the Champions League against Arsenal,” Kompany said. “We’ve put ourselves in a good position to go there and try to continue and improve.”
Asked if Bayern were ready for the challenge, the former Manchester City captain said: “Maybe more so than ever. I hope so, at least.”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
