The internet has the capacity to be cruel. Spreading a video of a 17-year-old Lennart Karl trying multiple stepovers before accidentally knocking the ball out of play during Bayern Munich’s 5-1 win in the Bundesliga
against TSG Hoffenheim is one of those moments.
Since it went viral, it should perhaps have been expected that head coach Vincent Kompany would be asked to address the situation as soon as the press conference ahead of Bayern’s DFB-Pokal clash against Rasenballsport Leipzig. In his usual calm manner, Kompany addressed the situation:
“I didn’t even look at it, I don’t know what happened on the Internet, it completely passed me by. If something annoys me in the moment, I’ll address it 100%. At that moment, I just thought he missed the stepover, but that was it. I won’t start punishing my attacking players for trying stepovers,” Kompany stated plainly, as captured by @iMiaSanMia. “Many people come to the stadium precisely for those kinds of moves. Attackers can try a bit more than defenders, and I encourage them. If I see a sign of arrogance or disrespect towards opponents, I’ll address it, but I didn’t feel that was the case. They probably showed every goal he scored 250000 times on social media, so it goes both ways – we can’t escape it.”
Not punishing a 17-year-old for their creativity is likely the right way to handle this.
If you are looking for more Bayern Munich and German national team coverage, check out the latest episodes of Bavarian Podcast Works, which you can get on Acast, Spotify, Apple, or any leading podcast distributor…
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