Bayern Munich beat Atletico Madrid as Lennart Karl stars in Champions League win

Bayern Munich continued their perfect start to the Champions League with a convincing 2-0 victory over Atletico Madrid in Spain on Tuesday night.

Lennart Karl was central to the result, recovering from a quiet first half to give the visitors the lead nine minutes after the interval.

The 18-year-old pounced after Robin le Normand surrendered possession, accelerating away from the Atletico defender before lifting a composed finish over Jan Oblak.

Bayern doubled their advantage through Konrad Laimer, who completed a powerful move involving Harry Kane. The England captain found Laimer in space, allowing the midfielder to unleash a fierce strike which flew beyond Oblak and lodged in the roof of the net.

The result extended Bayern’s winning start to the competition, although Kane endured an unusually subdued night in his first European appearance since receiving the Ballon d’Or.

Kane had scored in each of his previous 10 Champions League matches but was unable to equal Cristiano Ronaldo’s competition record. He did not manage a shot on target, sending an acrobatic effort wide before pulling another attempt off target.

Atletico goalkeeper Oblak kept the deficit from growing when he made an excellent save to divert Dayot Upamecano’s deflected effort onto the crossbar.

At the other end, Manuel Neuer was rarely troubled and faced only one shot on target during the match.

Bayern manager Vincent Kompany remains ill, so assistant coach Aaron Danks led the team in Madrid.

“I’m very pleased with the team’s performance,” said Danks.

“The way we kept a clean sheet and created chances in attack was impressive. It’s difficult to pick out individual players; it was just a superb team performance.”

Danks also praised Bayern’s ability to remain focused despite the pressure surrounding the fixture.

“There was a lot of noise around us, but the team showed incredible focus and character to deliver a top-level performance at a venue as difficult as this.”