Viking FK rallies to hold Bayern Munich to 3-3 Champions League draw

Viking FK, the Norwegian champions making their debut in the Champions League's league phase, held Bayern Munich to a 3-3 draw in Stavanger on Tuesday night, scoring a 90th-minute equalizer after Bayern had overturned a two-goal deficit to lead late in the match while playing a man down. The result, confirmed in the official standings posted by UEFA's Champions League league phase table, leaves the five-time European champions with four points from two matches and Viking with one.

Harry Kane scored twice for Bayern, including a second-half penalty, and set up a third goal for Luis Díaz, but a red card for winger Michael Olise in the 73rd minute shifted the balance of the match back toward the home side. Viking defender Herman Haugen, a product of the club's academy, headed in the stoppage-adjacent equalizer off a cross from captain Zlatko Tripic, sending the crowd at Lyse Arena into a celebration that outlasted the final whistle.

How the match unfolded

Viking shocked Bayern inside the first two minutes, when defender Gianni Stensness rose to head home a corner. The hosts doubled their lead seven minutes before halftime through Peter Christiansen, who finished a rapid counterattack, putting one of Europe's wealthiest clubs down 2-0 on the road against a team that had entered the match without a point in the competition. The official UEFA match page lists an attendance of 15,466 at the artificial-turf stadium, Viking's home ground since 2018.

Bayern's response came after the break. Kane converted a penalty in the 54th minute after Haugen was judged, following a video review, to have fouled Joshua Kimmich inside the area. Kane then headed in a Kimmich cross on the hour mark for his second goal, his ninth consecutive Champions League appearance with a goal according to the match report from ESPN. In the 71st minute, Kane turned provider, slipping the ball to Konrad Laimer, who squared for Díaz to put Bayern ahead 3-2.

Two minutes later, Olise was sent off, leaving Bayern to defend a one-goal lead with 10 men for the final quarter-hour. Viking pressed forward, and in the 90th minute Tripic's cross found Haugen, whose header went in off a defender to complete the comeback and secure the draw.

A rapid rise for Viking

The result is the latest milestone in an improbable run for Viking FK, who won their first Norwegian league title in 34 years to qualify for continental competition, then needed a playoff comeback against Dinamo Zagreb — a 2-2 draw away followed by a 3-1 win at home, a 5-3 aggregate victory recorded in the club's season summary — to reach the league phase for the first time. Their debut in Europe's top club competition began poorly, with a 3-1 loss at VfB Stuttgart on the opening matchday, before Tuesday's result against Bayern. Despite the draw, Viking sit 27th of 36 teams in the 2026-27 standings, a reflection of how the new league-phase format rewards goal difference and total points across eight matches rather than group position alone.

Bayern, by contrast, arrived in Stavanger having opened their campaign with a 5-0 win over Bodø/Glimt, putting four points on the board from two matches but now facing questions about a defense that conceded three goals on the road to a team with no prior Champions League experience. Manager Vincent Kompany had used the trip to Norway, played on an artificial surface, as a chance to manage his squad's workload with midfielder Jamal Musiala still unavailable.

Who is affected

For Bayern, the draw complicates what had been an ideal start to defending their place among Europe's elite under Kompany, who has staked his first full season in charge on a run to the later rounds of the competition. Olise's sending-off means the France international will miss at least Bayern's next continental fixture while the club awaits word from UEFA's disciplinary panel, a blow to a front line that already leans heavily on Kane. Under UEFA's disciplinary code, a straight red card carries an automatic minimum one-match suspension, meaning Olise will sit out at least the October 21 meeting with Arsenal regardless of any further sanction the panel imposes. The German club, whose trip to Stavanger was previewed in detail by Sky Sports, next hosts Arsenal in the Champions League on October 21, sandwiched around a Bundesliga meeting with RB Leipzig on October 17.

For Viking, the point is validation on the biggest stage the club has ever played on. The draw came in a season in which Norway placed two clubs, Viking and Bodø/Glimt, in the Champions League league phase for the first time in 26 years, and it gives Viking their first point of the campaign heading into their next fixture, away to Aston Villa on October 21.

What happens next

Both clubs return to league play before reconvening for Matchday 3 of the Champions League on October 20-21. Bayern will look to tighten a defense that conceded three times against a team with no prior continental experience, while Kompany manages Olise's absence and Kane's workload following his latest two-goal outing. Viking, who lead the Norwegian Eliteserien table as they chase a double of domestic and continental milestones, will carry Tuesday's result into a trip to Villa Park already aware that another point would ease their push up from the bottom of the 36-team European standings. The draw will also be remembered among Norwegian fans as one of the signature nights in the club's history, a point Haugen's late header turned from a respectable defeat into a result that outlived the final whistle.