Bayern's 16-Year-Old Prescott in Line for UCL Debut
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- Bayern Munich are weighing handing 16-year-old goalkeeper Leonard Prescott his first-team debut in Wednesday's Champions League last-16 second leg against Atalanta, head coach Vincent Kompany confirmed.
- Jonas Urbig sustained a concussion in Bayern's 6-1 first-leg win in Italy, Manuel Neuer is recovering from a muscle tear (last played March 6), and Sven Ulreich picked up an adductor issue in Saturday's 1-1 draw at Bayer Leverkusen — leaving the club with no fit senior keeper.
- Prescott, a German youth international who plays for Bayern's under-19s, will need clearance from German labour authorities to work in the evening as a minor before he can feature.
- Vincent Kompany said the call on Urbig is "a medical one" to be made on match day, adding: "If he plays tomorrow he will have our full backing. Everyone will help."
- Prescott has been on Bayern's bench for their past two matches; fellow teenagers Leon Klanac (19, thigh injury) and Janis Bartl (19) are the other options in the pecking order behind him.
- Bayern, the defending Bundesliga champions and current league leaders, would face either Real Madrid or Manchester City in the quarterfinals with a win over Atalanta.
Why it matters: A simultaneous injury crisis across all three senior keepers has pushed Bayern — Bundesliga leaders and Champions League contenders — to the brink of starting a youth-team teenager in a knockout European match. With a likely quarterfinal against Real Madrid or Manchester City next, the goalkeeping depth problem is the kind of single-position gap that can decide a tournament run, and Kompany's public framing leaves the door firmly open to Prescott playing.
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