16-year-old goalkeeper set to make Champions League history due to rule not used in England

Leonard Prescott will become the youngest goalkeeper in Champions League history if he makes his Bayern Munich debut this week.

The 16-year-old has found himself set to start against Atalanta with Vincent Kompany currently missing FOUR of his senior keepers.

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Bayern’s unprecedented injury crisis deepened on Saturday during the club’s 1-1 Bundesliga draw against Bayer Leverkusen.

Sven Ulreich, already the Bavarians’ third-choice goalkeeper, started at the BayArena but suffered a torn muscle in his right adductor.

He will now be confined to the treatment room to join first-choice between the sticks, Manuel Neuer, who is nursing a calf strain.

The 39-year-old isn’t expected to return to fitness until after the international break, and his two deputies also picked up issues.

Jonas Urbig sustained a concussion in the latter stages of the 6-1 Champions League round-of-16 first-leg away at Atalanta.

Teenager Prescott will now be needed for the second leg on Wednesday, following Ulreich’s injury against Leverkusen.

The American-born star has been named on the bench for Bayern’s past two matches, with Leon Klanac also a long-term absentee.

Speaking on talkSPORT’s Trans Europe Express Podcast, Danny Kelly pointed out that ‘in English leagues, you’re allowed emergency loans if goalkeepers are all injured because it’s such a specialised position’.

EFL regulations stipulate that such a transfer can only be for seven days, but can be renewed if the injury situation remains unchanged.

Sheffield Wednesday signed Joe Lumley from Bristol City on an emergency loan deal in October after Ethan Horvath was sent off.

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AFP

Kompany was a Manchester City player when the Premier League granted the club special dispensation to sign Marton Fulop on loan in 2010.

However, European football expert Andy Brassell confirmed that the rule does not exist in the Champions League for the Bayern boss to use.

Leonard Prescott set to make history

Brassell told talkSPORT: “The issue that they’ve got, if indeed it is an issue when you’re 6-1 up from the first leg with the home leg to come against Atalanta, they haven’t got any goalkeepers left.

“Manuel Neuer is injured, as we know. Jonas Urbig got a bang on the head last week. He’s going through the concussion protocol.

“So he won’t be playing either. So Sven Ulreich, the veteran third-choice goalkeeper, came in. It was clear he’d done something to himself after a while because Dayot Upamecano was taking the goal kicks. And he’s going to be out for several weeks with a muscle injury.

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“So it looks like the next man up might be, on the weekend that Max Dowman has been doing his thing, is going to be a 16-year-old.

“Leonard Prescott was on the bench for this game on Saturday. So the normal fourth choice is unavailable at the moment.

“Jannis Bärtl, who is the backup keeper for the second team, they’re not going to choose him.

“They’re probably going to choose Prescott instead. But what a moment for him, regardless of what’s up for grabs in that game!”

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Who is Leonard Prescott?

The New York-born goalkeeper has opted to play his youth international football with Germany at Under-15, U16 and U17 level.

He would become Bayern’s youngest-ever goalkeeper and the youngest shot-stopper in Champions League history if he starts.

At the age of 16 years and 176 days, Prescott would be the competition’s eighth-youngest overall, with Arsenal’s Dowman top.

The 1.96-metre-tall keeper has largely been playing his football with Bayern’s U19s this season, having joined from Union Berlin in 2023.

Prescott has kept a clean sheet just once in 16 appearances for the U19s and the club’s UEFA Youth League team and conceded 30 goals.