Bayern Munich youngster Lennart Karl suffered a terrible case of aura debt during his team’s 5-1 win over Hoffenheim. Late in the game, he was 1v1 on the wing and tried to do stepovers like Cristiano Ronaldo. Only, instead of a graceful display of skill, he accidentally sent the ball through his legs and out of play.
In the replay (which we can’t show you because the Bundesliga is allergic to its own growth and takes down every clip of anything remotely interesting) Hoffenheim defender Alexander Prass
even gives him a thumbs up after the gaffe. How embarrassing.
Lothar Matthäus, however, wants us to cut the kid some slack. Writing for his column on Sky, the ex-Ballon d’Or winner defended Karl’s unfortunate blunder.
“The boy is 17 years old, he loves playing soccer, and sometimes makes his opponents look bad,” writes Matthäus. “Sometimes it’s one trick too many, but we all want to see stuff like that anyway.”
“We’re happy when someone wants to show off and imitate the tricks of the superstars. Not everything worked for Messi at 17 either. Let the boys entertain us, even if you sometimes feel a little mocked as an opponent.”
Of course, Messi didn’t come onto the scene in the golden age of social media either. (He also didn’t say he wanted to sign for Real Madrid someday, but whatever.) Karl has to deal with the stigma of going viral in an era where people are obsessed with things like aura, slander, glaze, and agendas. Some of you people reading this have no idea what any of that means, but it is relevant.
All Karl can do is pick up and carry on. A goal or two would go a long way to making people forget, and fans will hope he rediscovers his scoring form soon.
