Lennart Karl has taken Bayern Munich and even Europe by storm so far this season, going from youth player on the fringes of the squad to regular starter in a matter of months. Through this time he has demonstrated outstanding qualities far beyond his age. It was only a matter of time before the Germany U-21 international would start breaking records and he did so again with a goal against Sporting CP in the Champions League, becoming the youngest player to score in 3 consecutive UCL games. Speaking
after the match, as captured by @iMiaSanMia, Karl had this to say about the record: “It’s very special for me to score in the Champions League at 17. I’m very proud of myself and the team.”
But, for all his qualities, one struggle that regularly cropped up for the the former Eintracht Frankfurt youth player was the use of his right foot, consistently cutting inside to use his favored left foot and becoming somewhat predictable as a result. Karl had already given a taste of his prowess with his right foot in this match as he flummoxed a defender on the stroke of half time, put the ball on his right and was only denied by a fantastic save. When he had another chance to shoot with his right foot in the 69th minute, however, he took it with both hands:
“I’ve worked a lot on improving my right foot – today I was rewarded,” Karl explained, as captured by @iMiaSanMia, recounting his perfectly volleyed finish to put Bayern 2-1 ahead. “It was a perfect contact with the left and then the volley with the right. It worked.”
Starting regularly for a team like Bayern Munich should surely give the German a real shot at making it to the senior Germany team, as Joshua Kimmich underlined, but the 17-year-old himself is not concerning himself with this topic at the moment. Asked by a DAZN reporter if Germany head coach Julian Nagelsmann would shoot him a text this evening , Karl laughed the question off: “I don’t think so, no,” he said, as captured by @iMiaSanMia.
It is getting really difficult to deny that this young phenom might truly deserve to go to the World Cup if he keeps this up. Nagelsmann’s squad selection in March could get very interesting.
