The 4-1 victory over Atalanta Bergamo not only saw Bayern Munich progress to the Champions League quarter-finals; it also served as a striking testament to the club’s current excellence in developing young talent.Veterans Manuel Neuer and Sven Ulreich are out with muscle injuries. Jonas Urbig suffered a concussion during the 6-1 thrashing in the first leg against Atalanta Bergamo. For a long time, it was unclear whether he would be fit enough to feature in the return leg – and so a debut for one of the two young goalkeepers, Jannis Bärtl (19) or Leonard Prescot (16), in the FC Bayern goal did not seem unlikely beforehand.In the end, Urbig did get the all-clear from the doctors. “Otherwise, one of the lads would have played,” he said. “And they would have done just that.” It was almost a bit endearing to hear Urbig, who is only 22 himself, talk about “the lads” like that. Although not in goal, two other "youngsters" made their debuts as substitutes – partly because the match had long since been decided. Left-back Deniz Ofli (18) and centre-back Filip Pavic. At 16 years, one month and 27 days, Pavic is the youngest player ever to feature for FC Bayern in the Champions League – and the second youngest of all time after Paul Wanner. “The lads have justified the trust placed in them,” praised sporting director Max Eberl. “Both slotted in very solidly straight away. You didn’t notice any drop in quality, quite the opposite.” Ofli set up Lennart Karl’s goal to make it 3-0 just seconds after coming on by winning the ball. Pavic completed 33 out of 33 passes.In what has been such an all-round successful season from Munich’s perspective (on course for the treble!), debuts like those of Ofli and Pavic are no longer really newsworthy. Before this duo, seven other teenagers from the club’s own youth academy had already made their first-team debuts: Cassiano Kiala (17), Jonah Kusi-Asare (18, now on loan at Fulham), Felipe Chavez (18, now on loan at 1. FC Köln), David Santos Daiber (19), Maycon Cardozo (17), Wisdom Mike (17) – and, of course, Lennart Karl (17).Karl made his debut at the Club World Cup last summer and has since shown such impressive development that, according to consistent reports, national team manager Julian Nagelsmann will call him up to the DFB squad for the first time this Thursday. The right-winger demonstrated why once again in the 4-1 victory against Atalanta. He set up Harry Kane’s 2–0 goal, scored the 3–0 himself and set up Luis Díaz’s 4–0 with a superb pass from his own half. In total, Karl now has eight goals and six assists to his name.Chairman Jan-Christian Dreesen described his season as “exceptionally great”. Just like Tom Bischof (20) and Urbig, who, despite their young age, have long since established themselves as rotation players and consistently deliver. Urbig made a strong save against Atalanta shortly before half-time, denying Mario Pasalic from close range. Bischof, a natural midfielder, once again demonstrated his versatility at left-back. He had to come off injured in the closing stages, but Eberl subsequently gave the all-clear.Bischof had already made his debut for the DFB team last June. He is unlikely to be in the squad for the upcoming training camp featuring friendlies against Switzerland and Ghana. Instead, alongside Karl, Urbig is reportedly set to make his first appearance. Meanwhile, Munich’s home-grown talent Aleksandar Pavlovic, who is just 21, has long been a regular starter and stands a good chance of securing a starting spot at the World Cup.It is impressive to see the regularity with which young talents are currently being brought through to the first team at FC Bayern (and in some cases on to the national team). Whether they are young professionals signed from other clubs, such as Urbig or Bischof, or home-grown players from the academy, which is now paying dividends nine years after it opened. Manager Vincent Kompany takes youth development more seriously than his predecessors Nagelsmann and Thomas Tuchel. Partly out of conviction, no doubt. But partly also because the squad is smaller than it was back then and because many matches are decided early on, offering more opportunities to play without pressure (which is, of course, also to Kompany’s credit).As a result, a special dynamic is currently developing at FC Bayern, with many young players at various stages of development who seem to spur each other on. Pavlovic (a regular) was followed by Urbig, Bischof and Karl (rotation players) and, more recently, further debutants such as Ofli and Pavic, whom all those talents who are already training with the first team but are still waiting for their first appearance now look up to. And they are, of course, role models for everyone else at the training ground.“When young players are given opportunities, you can always use that as a guide,” Eberl agrees. “You can talk a lot, always telling the lads: ‘You have to work hard.’ No, with us you can see right now: if you work hard and are diligent, then you’ll get your chances. That’s basically the best thing. Every young player is currently a role model for the next one.”Add GOAL.com as a preferred source on Google to see more of our reporting