On Wednesday night, Bayern Munich hosted Club Brugge of Belgium on matchday three of the European Champions League. The fixture on paper was a clear mismatch, and the game unfolded true to form. Bayern dominated in all facets of the game and led 3-0 at the half-time interval.
Courtesy of the victory, Bayern made it twelve wins out of twelve games so far this season and remained the only club in any of Europe’s top five leagues with a 100 % record across all competitions. Let’s have a look at some interesting takeaways from Bayern’s comfortable 4-0 victory over Club Brugge.
Vincent Kompany takes another step forward in terms of youth development
During his first season in charge at Bayern Munich, despite managing to silence the majority of his critics, Vincent Kompany at times seemed to be another one of those coaches who was disinclined to give younger players much opportunity.
In his second term in charge of the Bavarian giants, Kompany has managed so far to leave even his harshest critics struggling to find ammunition with which to assault him. On Wednesday, against Club Brugge, the Belgian coach took things up a notch when he started 17-year-old Lennart as the number ten. The move turned out to be a stroke of genius with the teenager opening the scoring in the fifth minute of the game with a fantastic solo effort. The goal was simultaneously a feather in the cap for both the player and his coach as Karl became Bayern’s youngest ever goal scorer in the Champions League when he gave his team the early lead.
Kompany even brought on17-year-old Wisdom Mike in place of Luis Diaz for the final ten odd minutes. Whether or not Karl got the nod from his coach because of the lack of fit bodies or because he was deemed to be a better fit than Nicolas Jackson is anybody’s guess. However, at the end of the game, fans would have been smiling not just because of the 4-0 scoreline but also because it’s hard to remember when was the last time two teenagers appeared in a Champions League game for Bayern and one of them stole the show.