Skip to Content Facebook Feature Image

Lennart Karl, 17, scores a record-breaking goal in his first Champions League start for Bayern

Sport

Lennart Karl, 17, scores a record-breaking goal in his first Champions League start for Bayern
Sport

Sport

Lennart Karl, 17, scores a record-breaking goal in his first Champions League start for Bayern

2025-10-23 05:57 Last Updated At:06:00

MUNICH (AP) — Seventeen-year-old Lennart Karl was handed his first Champions League start and made the most of it.

Within five minutes of kickoff against Club Brugge on Wednesday, Karl became Bayern's youngest Champions League goalscorer in style, breaking a record set by Jamal Musiala.

Karl's contribution was so explosive that it left Bayern coach Vincent Kompany concerned about the effect of all the attention on his young winger.

“I'm not a fan of hype, and now he will be getting some of that. I'm a fan of training and calm,” Kompany told broadcaster DAZN.

“His performance today was good. Everyone knows he can score goals and if he keeps going like this, he'll get a chance and maybe at the right time he'll need a bit of calm.”

Karl picked up a pass in midfield from Jonathan Tah, dodged past defender Brandon Mechele and surged to the edge of the Brugge box before hitting a swerving left-foot shot which went in over goalkeeper Nordin Jackers.

Karl sprinted to the corner to celebrate with a knee slide before Bayern striker Harry Kane and midfielder Aleksandar Pavlovic rushed over to hug their young teammate. The Munich crowd gave Karl a standing ovation when he was substituted in the 69th minute.

Karl's goal set Bayern on course for a 4-0 win featuring two other landmark goals. Kane scored his 20th of the season in all competitions with a tap-in off a Konrad Laimer cross, before Luis Díaz scored in the Champions League for Bayern for the first time since signing from Liverpool. Nicolas Jackson made it 4-0 on a rebound in the 79th minute.

Bayern becomes one of five teams in the league stage to win all three of its games so far.

At 17 years, 242 days old, Karl broke a record set by Musiala, who was 121 days older when he scored against Lazio in a round-of-16 game four years ago, UEFA said.

Karl wears the same shirt number, 42, that Musiala wore in that game.

It's Karl's first senior club goal in his 10th Bayern appearance in all competitions. He made his debut at the Club World Cup in a 10-0 thrashing of Auckland City in June.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Bruges' Hans Vanaken, left, Bayern Munich's Lennart Karl and Harry Kane, right, in action during the Champions League soccer match between Bayern Munich and FC Brugge in Munich, Germany, Wednesday Oct. 22, 2025. (Sven Hoppe/dpa via AP)

Bruges' Hans Vanaken, left, Bayern Munich's Lennart Karl and Harry Kane, right, in action during the Champions League soccer match between Bayern Munich and FC Brugge in Munich, Germany, Wednesday Oct. 22, 2025. (Sven Hoppe/dpa via AP)

Bayern Munich's Lennart Karl, left, and Bruges' Hans Vanaken during the Champions League soccer match between Bayern Munich and FC Brugge in Munich, Germany, Wednesday Oct. 22, 2025. (Sven Hoppe/dpa via AP)

Bayern Munich's Lennart Karl, left, and Bruges' Hans Vanaken during the Champions League soccer match between Bayern Munich and FC Brugge in Munich, Germany, Wednesday Oct. 22, 2025. (Sven Hoppe/dpa via AP)

Bayern Munich's Lennart Karl celebrates scoring during the Champions League soccer match between Bayern Munich and FC Brugge in Munich, Germany, Wednesday Oct. 22, 2025. (Sven Hoppe/dpa via AP)

Bayern Munich's Lennart Karl celebrates scoring during the Champions League soccer match between Bayern Munich and FC Brugge in Munich, Germany, Wednesday Oct. 22, 2025. (Sven Hoppe/dpa via AP)

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — More than 200 years after being sunk by Adm. Horatio Nelson and the British fleet, a Danish warship has been discovered on the seabed of Copenhagen Harbor by marine archaeologists.

Working in thick sediment and almost zero visibility 15 meters (49 feet) beneath the waves, divers are working against the clock to unearth the 19th-century wreck of the Dannebroge before it becomes a construction site in a new housing district being built off the Danish coast.

Denmark’s Viking Ship Museum, which is leading the monthslong underwater excavations, announced its findings on Thursday, 225 years to the day since the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801.

“It’s a big part of the Danish national feeling,” said Morten Johansen, the museum’s head of maritime archaeology.

A great deal has been written about the battle “by very enthusiastic spectators, but we actually don’t know how it was to be onboard a ship being shot to pieces by English warships and some of that story we can probably learn from seeing the wreck, Johansen said.

In the Battle of Copenhagen, Nelson and the British fleet attacked and defeated Denmark’s navy as it formed a protective blockade outside the harbor.

Thousands were killed and wounded during the brutal hourslong naval clash, considered one of Nelson’s “great battles.” The intention was to force Denmark out of an alliance of Northern European powers, including Russia, Prussia and Sweden.

At the center of the fighting was the Danish flagship, the Dannebroge, commanded by Commodore Olfert Fischer.

The 48-meter (157-foot) Dannebroge was Nelson’s main target. Cannon fire tore through its upper deck before incendiary shells sparked a fire aboard.

“(It was) a nightmare to be on board one of these ships,” Johansen said. “When a cannonball hits a ship, it’s not the cannonball that does the most damage to the crew, it’s wooden splinters flying everywhere, very much like grenade debris.”

The battle also is believed to have inspired the phrase “to turn a blind eye.” After deciding to ignore a superior’s signal, Nelson, who had lost sight in his right eye, reportedly remarked: “I have only one eye, I have a right to be blind sometimes.”

Nelson eventually offered a truce and a ceasefire was later agreed with Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik.

The stricken Dannebroge slowly drifted northward and exploded. Records say the sound created a deafening roar across Copenhagen.

Marine archaeologists have discovered two cannons, uniforms, insignia, shoes, bottles and even part of a sailor’s lower jaw, perhaps one of the 19 unaccounted-for crew members who likely lost their lives that day.

The dig site will soon be enveloped by construction work for Lynetteholm, a megaproject to build a new housing district in the middle of Copenhagen Harbor that is expected to be completed by 2070.

Marine archaeologists began surveying the area late last year, targeting a spot thought to match the flagship’s final position.

Experts say the sizes of the wooden parts found match old drawings. Dendrochronological dating, the method of using tree rings to establish the age of wood, match the year the ship was built. They also say the darkened dig site is full of cannonballs, a hazard for divers navigating waters darkened by clouds of silt stirred up from the seabed.

“Sometimes you can’t see anything, and then you really have to just feel your way, look with your fingers instead of with your eyes,” diver and maritime archaeologist Marie Jonsson said.

Chronicled in books and painted on canvases, the 1801 battle is deeply embedded in Denmark’s national story.

Archaeologists hope their discoveries may help reexamine the event that shaped the Scandinavian country and perhaps uncover personal stories of those who went into battle on that day 225 years ago.

“There are bottles, there are ceramics, and even pieces of basketry,” Jonsson said. “You get closer to the people onboard.”

Morten Johansen, head of maritime archaeology at Denmark's Viking Ship Museum, shows part of a human lower jawbone recovered from the wreck of Danish flagship "Dannebroge" that sank during the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/James Brooks)

Morten Johansen, head of maritime archaeology at Denmark's Viking Ship Museum, shows part of a human lower jawbone recovered from the wreck of Danish flagship "Dannebroge" that sank during the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/James Brooks)

Archaeologists sail with boat through the harbor in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/James Brooks)

Archaeologists sail with boat through the harbor in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/James Brooks)

An archaeologist points to a computer screen, showing a map of the wreck of Danish flagship "Dannebroge" that sank during the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801. in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/James Brooks)

An archaeologist points to a computer screen, showing a map of the wreck of Danish flagship "Dannebroge" that sank during the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801. in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/James Brooks)

Morten Johansen, head of maritime archaeology at Denmark's Viking Ship Museum, shows a metal insignia recovered from the wreck of Danish flagship "Dannebroge" that sank during the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/James Brooks)

Morten Johansen, head of maritime archaeology at Denmark's Viking Ship Museum, shows a metal insignia recovered from the wreck of Danish flagship "Dannebroge" that sank during the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/James Brooks)

Morten Johansen, head of maritime archaeology at Denmark's Viking Ship Museum, shows a metal insignia recovered from the wreck of Danish flagship "Dannebroge" that sank during the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/James Brooks)

Morten Johansen, head of maritime archaeology at Denmark's Viking Ship Museum, shows a metal insignia recovered from the wreck of Danish flagship "Dannebroge" that sank during the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/James Brooks)

Recommended Articles