When Lovro Zvonarek left the Allianz Arena pitch in the 90th minute of Bayern’s Bundesliga game at home to Wolfsburg on Sunday to make way for Jonathan Asp Jensen, a dream had come true for the former and was coming true for the latter at that very moment. Matteo Perez Vinlöf was the third player in dreamland, having entered the action 15 minutes earlier. All three Bayern youth players made history in some way that afternoon.
Zvonarek’s dream start
No doubt still excited at being handed his first senior start for Bayern, Zvonarek then needed just four minutes to score his first senior goal. It was the perfect start for the 19-year-old Croatian in front of a sold-out Allianz Arena crowd, when he finished into the far bottom corner with his right foot to make it 1-0. The first player to congratulate him was fellow academy graduate Aleksandar Pavlovic, who now has 18 Bundesliga appearances under his belt. Zvonarek, who arrived at the Campus in 2022, was also heavily involved in the second goal, cleverly playing Bryan Zaragoza’s cross back to Thomas Müller, who then teed up Leon Goretzka. All in all, it was a perfect Sunday for the Croatia U21 international.
Tuchel: “Lovro took his chance”
“Lovro is a top young man, always coming out onto the pitch with a big smile. He works hard and had earned this appearance. We had a lot of absentees. He took his chance and did a great job,” said head coach Thomas Tuchel after the game. Board member for sport Max Eberl was also full of praise: “It’s a statement that a young Lovro Zvonarek plays and immediately makes it 1-0. It’s a nice expression. We have talent, we have potential.”
Vinlöf comes on late on
Zvonarek was later greeted by a familiar face in the slightly less familiar setting of the 75,000-capacity Allianz Arena when Perez Vinlöf was introduced in the 74th minute. The pair had previously played 22 times together for the reserves and in the UEFA Youth League. It was a Bundesliga debut for the 18-year-old Swede, who is nominally a left-back but has often played further forward for the second team, scoring one goal and providing four assists in 26 competitive appearances. He now helped the senior side hold onto their 2-0 lead.
Asp Jensen’s Bundesliga debut
Shortly before the final whistle, the stadium took to its collective feet once more to applaud the final substitution of the day. Zvonarek made his way off and gave a hug to replacement Asp Jensen. The pair and Perez Vinlöf know each other very well from their time living in the Campus accommodation. Like fellow 2022 arrival Perez Vinlöf, Asp Jensen was also getting his first taste of the first team and top-level football in Germany, after 12 Regionalliga outings for the reserves (two goals, one assist). The attacking midfielder’s inclusion makes it six players from the FCB youth setup to have made their senior debut this season after Pavlovic, Frans Krätzig (currently on loan at Austria Vienna), Taichi Fukui (loaned to Portimonense), Zvonarek and Perez Vinlöf, while Asp Jensen is the fifth-youngest Dane to have appeared in the Bundesliga.
“Result of their work and support”
“We’re delighted about Matteo and Jonny’s debuts. Both have earned this appearance thanks to their hard work in training and performances in matches. But they’re also a result of the overall good youth work at the Campus and the very good support they receive from coaches and all employees at our academy,” said Halil Altintop, FC Bayern Campus sporting director.
