Jamal Musiala Bayern’s youngest-ever UCL scorer in win at Lazio

ROME — Teenager Jamal Musiala became Bayern Munich’s youngest-ever goalscorer in the UEFA Champions League as he helped his team rout Lazio 4-1 in the first leg of the round of 16 on Tuesday.

Musiala also became the second-youngest player to score in the knockout stage of the competition when he netted Bayern’s second goal.

Bojan is the youngest, having netted for Barcelona aged 17 years and 217 days in 2008. Musiala, who is eligible to play for either Germany or England, is 17 years and 363 days.

Musiala posted pictures on Twitter of him celebrating his goal, with the caption: “A night to remember.”

Robert Lewandowski had earlier given Bayern the lead after a howler from Lazio and Leroy Sané put the defending champion firmly in control at the end of the first half.

Francesco Acerbi netted an own goal at the start of the second half as Lazio’s first appearance in the Champions League knockout stage for 20 years went from bad to worse. Joaquín Correa scored a consolation for the Italian side, which was woeful defensively.

“It was a fantastic night. If you score four goals in Rome it means you had a really great game and achieved something special,” said Lewandowski, who was named UEFA Player of the Match.

“The Champions League is something that you wait for for weeks and today we showed our best qualities,” the Poland striker added. “But we know we can still do even better.”

The return match is March 17 in Munich. Chelsea defeated Atlético Madrid 1-0 in the other round-of-16 match on Tuesday.

“We were too tense from the start, we knew the quality of our opponent but we helped them,” Lazio coach Simone Inzaghi said. “They should have had to create the goals and instead … but it will be another step in our growth.

“Out of the four goals, we gifted them three and that’s the disappointment. We would have wanted a different result and performance for our return to the last 16.”

Bayern had made the trip to Rome without several players due to the coronavirus and injuries. That list included Thomas Müller, Douglas Costa, Benjamin Pavard, Serge Gnabry and Corentin Tolisso.

It was the first time Lazio had been in the knockout round since 2000-01 and its return got off to a nightmare start as a dreadful Mateo Musacchio back pass in the ninth minute was intercepted by Lewandowski, who slotted it into the empty net.

It was Lewandowski’s 72nd career goal in the competition, moving him above Rául and into the top three of the goalscoring charts. Cristiano Ronaldo (134) and Lionel Messi (119) top the list.

Musiala had been handed a surprise start and he doubled Bayern’s lead in the 24th as the England under-21 international was left unmarked to fire into the bottom left corner after Leon Goretzka had flicked on Alphonso Davies’ pass from the left.

The game was all but over three minutes from halftime. Lazio goalkeeper Pepe Reina did well to parry Kingsley Coman’s attempt after a surging run from the France forward but Sané turned in the rebound.

And Lazio gifted Bayern another goal two minutes after the break when Acerbi turned Sané’s cross into his own net.

The only consolation for Lazio was Correa’s goal in the 49th. The Argentina midfielder scored a brilliant solo effort as he beat four Bayern players before firing past Manuel Neuer.