Bayern Munich scored three times in 12 minutes in the second half to race back from a goal down and beat Portuguese visitors Sporting 3-1 in the Champions League on Tuesday and stay firmly on course for a top-eight finish in the league phase.
Goals from Serge Gnabry, teenager Lennart Karl, and Jonathan Tah between the 65th and 77th minutes gave the Bundesliga leaders an impressive comeback win after Sporting took a surprise lead thanks to a Joshua Kimmich own goal nine minutes after the restart.
Man-of-the-match Karl, aged 17 years and 290 days, became the youngest player in Champions League history to score in three consecutive appearances, and his performance will further boost his chances of a Germany call-up ahead of next year’s World Cup.
“To play in the Champions League at 17 is something special for me,” a beaming Karl said. “I am very proud of myself and the team.”
“I have trained a lot with the right foot, and I was rewarded today,” he said of his goal, where he controlled the ball with a fine touch and then scored.
“It was a perfect contact with the left and then fired with the right.”
The Bavarians, who suffered their first defeat across all competitions this season when they lost to Arsenal in the Champions League on the previous matchday two weeks ago, are on 15 points in second place with two matches left in the league phase.
Sporting dropped to ninth on 10 points.
The top eight teams qualify for the knockout stage, with the next 16 going into a playoff for eight more spots.
Bayern went on the attack from the start and put the ball in the net after five minutes through Karl, only for his effort to be ruled out by VAR for offside.
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Bundesliga top-scorer Harry Kane went even closer when he hit the post with a deft shot in the 37th before Sporting keeper Rui Silva pulled off a reflex save to stop Karl’s shot a minute before the break.
The injury-hit visitors stunned the home crowd when they went 1-0 up against the run of play, thanks to Kimmich, who stabbed in a Joao Simoes cutback for an own goal.
It did not take long for Bayern to respond, and Michael Olise whipped in a 65th-minute corner to the far post for Gnabry to volley in the equaliser.
Karl got on the scoresheet four minutes later, drilling in his third goal in four Champions League matches in his meteoric rise this season.
Tah, who had almost scored an own goal in the first half, sealed their win, poking in from close range in the 77th.
