Why Bayern Munich could field their fifth-choice goalkeeper against Atalanta in the Champions League: 16-year-old Prescott is warming up – it could be a record

Leonard Prescott

In a surprise move, Kompany could field a 16-year-old in goal for the match against Palladino’s side – it would be an all-time record

Bayern Munich are taking stock of their goalkeepers, Kompany looks around and… finds no one. The German side have no available players in that position for the Champions League round of 16 second leg against Atalanta, scheduled for Wednesday 18 March. They won the first leg 6-1 in Bergamo and have one foot in the quarter-finals, but someone has to be put in goal. With the first four unavailable for various reasons, scrolling down the list reveals that the first available goalkeeper for the match is Leonard Prescott, born in 2009 and first-choice for Bayern’s Under-19s following Leon Klanac’s injury.

THE FOUR GOALKEEPERS WHO ARE UNAVAILABLE

Surprisingly, at the age of 16, he could make his Champions League debut after having already been called up for the first leg (as well as for the last Bundesliga match against Leverkusen). His call-up, as mentioned, is due to the unavailability of the first four goalkeepers. Let’s start: Manuel Neuer is out with a calf strain; his deputy Jonas Urbig is recovering from a concussion sustained in the match in Bergamo a week ago (it cannot be ruled out that he might recover). Then there is the first team’s third-choice goalkeeper, Sven Ulreich, who is definitely out with a muscle injury to his right thigh adductors, and the player who, on paper, would be the youth team’s first-choice goalkeeper, Leon Klanac, who has been out since last December with a serious thigh injury.

THE RECORD AND THE SPECIAL AUTHORISATION

Should Prescott take to the pitch, he would become the youngest goalkeeper in Champions League history, surpassing the record held by Maarten Vandevoordt, who made his debut for Genk in 2019 at the age of 17 in a match against Napoli (the all-time record, which would remain unbroken, is held by Arsenal’s Max Dowman). There is another interesting point, however: if the match were to continue past 11 pm (perhaps into extra time or a penalty shoot-out), under German child protection laws, as the Bayern goalkeeper is still only 16, the club would need to obtain special authorisation to allow him to continue playing beyond that time.