Vincent Kompany backs Lennart Karl after unfortunate error against Hoffenheim
Bayern Munich boss Vincent Kompany has come out in support of young Lennart Karl after he was the subject of criticism online after their win against Hoffenheim.
The criticism stemmed from a clip of Karl attempting a piece of skill by doing stepovers near the corner flag but accidentally knocking the ball out of play.
While the attempted trickery didn’t quite go as planned, it’s one of very few things to have gone wrong for Bayern’s rising star this season. Karl has made 30 appearances in all competitions so far in 2025/26, 17 of which were starts. He’s notched seven goals in that time and established himself as one of the continent’s brightest talents.
Watch: Lennart Karl lighting up the game
And coach Kompany was quick to brush aside the incident’s significance, instead choosing to focus on the positives.
“If something annoys me, I will 100 percent say it. But in that moment, he simply missed a stepover,” said the Bayern boss. “That’s it. I’m not going to start punishing my attacking players for trying stepovers, because then what am I going to tell Michael Olise and Luis Díaz? A lot of people come to the stadium for this.”
Kompany also made sure to highlight that such moments are part of the job, especially when you’re an attacker, and that he’ll only be encouraging him to try such things more often rather than cower from criticism.
“It’s easier for wingers than for defenders or goalkeepers, because for them, if you make a mistake, the ball ends up in your own net. He missed something and it went out for a goal kick. That’s why attacking players can try a bit more than defensive players – and I encourage them to do that,” he explained.
The Bayern academy product has built an impressive catalogue of magical moments in his breakout season, far outweighing any moments of misjudgement, as Kompany was also eager to point out.
“He was just unlucky. They’ve probably shown every goal he’s scored 250,000 times on social media. It goes both ways – we can’t escape it.”
It surely won’t be long before we see another of Karl’s goals doing the rounds on social media, with the attacking gem already producing spectacular finishes against Borussia Mönchengladbach on Matchday 8 and against Club Brugge earlier this season in the UEFA Champions League.
Karl and Bayern’s next test comes against RB Leipzig in their DFB Cup quarter-final on Wednesday night.
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