Ciro Immobile of Lazio scores his group’s first purpose from the penalty-spot in the course of the UEFA Champions League spherical of 16 first leg match between SS Lazio and FC Bayern München at Stadio Olimpico on February 14, 2024 in Rome, Italy.
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High and large. Headers and half-volleys. Free kicks and extra. No matter what Bayern Munich tried, the German membership merely could not discover the purpose. None of Bayern’s 16 pictures had been on goal Wednesday in a 1-0 loss at Lazio within the first leg of the Champions League’s spherical of 16.
Four days after a dangerous loss within the Bundesliga, Bayern once more did not meet expectations.
Lazio captain Ciro Immobile transformed a penalty kick when Bayern was decreased to 10 males halfway by the second half after the German membership failed to capitalise on a collection of probabilities.
“It’s been a tough week,” Bayern striker Harry Kane mentioned.
“We started well and had some clear chances. I had one, Jamal (Musiala) had one, Josh (Kimmich) had one from the edge of the box. In these games, those are big moments which we weren’t able to take.”
Kane was set up by Thomas Müller directly in front of the goal seven minutes in but missed high with a half-volley.
“They’re the ones you want and I just leaned back,” Kane mentioned. “That’s soccer and a part of being a striker: you are going to miss them from time to time. The principal factor for me and the group is to focus on the following problem. We’re in a tough spell, there is no hiding that. We’re not out of it and we’ll by no means surrender. One spark can change rather a lot and we’d like to attempt to discover that.”
Together with the 3-0 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen, the consequence places pressure on Bayern and coach Thomas Tuchel forward of the return leg March 5.
“From my perspective, we produced a reaction (to the Leverkusen loss) in the first half,” Bayern’s Thomas Müller mentioned. “We should definitely have taken the lead in the first half. If we’re talking about a reaction, you can’t always discuss the result – which is of course a nice end product for a reaction – but first and foremost, we’re talking about our approach.”
Bayern, a six-time European champion, has reached the quarterfinals or higher in 11 of its final 12 Champions League campaigns — the exception being a last-16 elimination by Liverpool 5 years in the past.
Lazio, which sits seventh in Serie A, misplaced to Bayern in its solely different round-of-16 look three years in the past. But Maurizio Sarri’s group, which completed second behind runaway Italian champion Napoli final season, has been in stable type currently, successful 5 of its final seven league matches.
Bayern defender Dayot Upamecano was despatched off for a foul on Gustav Isaksen and Immobile despatched goalkeeper Manuel Neuer the mistaken method with the following spot kick. The Italy ahead has now scored Lazio’s final 4 targets within the competitors, having reached the 200-goal mark in Serie A over the weekend.
“Playing matches like this gives you so many emotions and sharing it with these fans is what we dream of as children,” Immobile mentioned.
Paris Saint-Germain beat Real Sociedad 2-0 within the night time’s different match.
Having already seen its possibilities of extending a run of 11 straight Bundesliga titles positioned in jeopardy after falling 5 factors behind Leverkusen, Bayern now faces an uphill wrestle in Europe, too.
“Our quality and our expectations as a club is that in moments like these, we stick together,” Müller mentioned. “We will give everything we have in every competition until the very last second. … We know we have it in us, even if we didn’t show it tonight. And who’s to say things won’t look a lot different in three weeks’ time.”
Bayern managed the sport however could not fairly discover the goal early on. Leroy Sané additionally missed a free kick narrowly large after the half-hour mark.
After the break, Neuer did effectively to smother a close-range effort from Isaksen, who had solely the goalkeeper to beat after receiving a ball excessive from Luis Alberto. Then Kane missed once more with a header.
Before kickoff, Bayern followers launched flares onto the sector and crammed the guests’ part with fireplace and smoke. After the ultimate whistle, Lazio followers danced within the stands as techno music blasted by the stadium audio system.
It was solely Lazio’s second ever win within the knockout part, after beating Valencia in 2000.
