By Goal.com News on Wednesday, 17 March 2021
Category: Goal.com News

LIVE: Bayern Munich vs Lazio

63' Should Lazio go out, it will be the first time since 2016 there hasn't been an Italian side in the Champions League quarter-finals.

62' The referee spots a foul in the melee from the resulting corner and the attack comes to nothing.

61' Sane drops a shoulder on the right and fires in a great left-footed cross towards Lewandowski at the far corner of the six-yard box. The big striker is poised to nod it home but Parolo stretches to head behind for a corner.

59' Radu has the ball in a good crossing position by the left corner of the area. He instead chooses to lay off Lulic on the overlap, but his cross is charged down. 

58' Pavard looks for Muller with a ball infield from the right but the latter is surrounded by blue shirts as the pass comes in. 

55' Lazzari is down in some pain, though it's not obvious what happened to him. Lazio have Pereira and Parolo ready to come on but the changes are being delayed while he gets some treatment.

54' Lazio are looking short of ideas in attack, struggling to get Luis Alberto and Correa on the ball in advanced positions. Muriqi chases down a ball out to the left but he's quickly hunted down by Sule.

53' Lulic throws himself into the air to make a bicycle-kick clearance inside his own area, hooking a cross away from Sane. Always great to see.

52' A yard of space opens up for Pavard at the edge of the area. He sets his sights on the far top corner and has a crack from range, but he scuffs his shot straight into a defender.

50' Bayern look as though they've had a rocket from Flick at half-time. They're looking sharper on the ball and nastier off it. They're 5-1 up, but that is the standard they hold themselves to.

48' Bayern press Lazio around their own penalty area and win the ball high up. Kimmich clips it in to Lewandowksi in the area and he controls it with a deft touch before looking to finish, but Acerbi gets back well to block.

46' There's an early chance for Lewandowski but he's denied at close range by Reina. Sane can't believe he hasn't played him in for a tap-in, and Gnabry was open too. Should be 2-0, but you can hardly blame Lewandowski for backing himself.

45' We're back underway!

Bayern could think about giving some minutes to the likes of Musiala, Schneller, Sarr and Choupo-Moting off the bench in the second half. Lazio will presumably be forced into a change with Fares going down right at the end of the first.

It hasn't been a classic and Bayern haven't been at their best but, predictably, they lead through a Lewandowski goal. He powered in a penalty after Goretzka was fouled at a corner just past the half-hour mark, and not a lot has happened since then. Up until that point, Lazio had applied themselves well and were arguably the better team, but the goal has knocked the stuffing out of them.

45' + 2' HALF-TIME: BAYERN MUNICH 1-0 LAZIO

45' Just one minute to be added on at the end of the first half.

44' Fares has gone back down, and the physios are coming on. He seems to be holding his left knee, possibly after twisting it in a challenge with Sane a few minutes ago. Lulic is lacing up his boots on the touchline.

42' Boateng looks to chip a ball forwards for Muller but it's nodded clear. Play is stopped as Fares went down off the ball just before Boateng played the pass, but it doesn't seem to be anything too serious as he's straight back up.

41' The rain is threatening to turn into snow now, which probably isn't what you need if you've got 45 minutes to play away from home against the world champions and you're already four goals down.

39' Lewandowski hits the free-kick into the wall.

36' In many ways, of course, Lazio's task for the evening hasn't been changed by that goal. After their heavy home defeat, they needed to score four to keep themselves alive in the competition tonight anyway.

34' That's Lewandowski's 73rd Champions League goal, and his 39th in all competitions this season. Only Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have scored more in this tournament.

32' PENALTY for Bayern! Muriqi is all over Goretzka as a corner comes in and the midfielder goes down. The referee has a good view of the incident and gives the spot-kick straight away, and it looks like a simple decision.

29' Bayern's forwards are looking a little frustrated. Bayern are having plenty of possession now but not getting the ball into the final third. Coming up to the half-hour mark, Lewandowski has only completed one pass and hasn't had a shot.

27' Lazzari jinks away from Hernandez to the right of the penalty area and skips inside, but his pass infield is cut out by Gnabry.

25' Alaba thinks he's kept the ball in play after challenging Muriqi up by the left corner flag. It looks like he has, but the linesman says otherwise and the throw-in goes Lazio's way.

23' Kimmich makes an important block in the area as Milinkovic-Savic and Radu combine to make half a chance for the visitors, who have taken control of the game in the last 10 minutes.

21' Bayern look to play the ball out from the back but Lazio press high and force a throw-in as Gnabry can't wriggle clear. The Bundesliga leaders eventually work their way upfield but they're having to work for every yard so far tonight.

19' Lazio have seen marginally more of the ball in the opening stages, and have looked capable of picking their way through Bayern's defence. They aren't exactly kicking the door down but get the first goal and who knows?

17' Since Hansi Flick took over as manager, Bayern have won their six home Champions League games by an aggregate score of 18-3, including the 4-1 thrashing of Chelsea at this stage last season.

15' Luis Alberto finds a pocket of space deep on the left and clips a clever low cross into the area which Milinkovic-Savic stoops low to head towards goal. Hernandez does really well to get a slight touch to the ball which kills its momentum and it bounces safely into Nubel's hands.

13' Sane goes close! He gets the ball at the right corner of the area and skips inside onto his left foot, but bends his low shot just wide of the far post. Lewandowski throws himself at the ball for a diving header but can't get across in time to make contact.

12' There's a bit of drizzle in the Munich air tonight, which is helping with some crisp early passing. It hasn't been end-to-end but it doesn't look as though the teams have turned up to play out a dead-rubber draw.

10' Kimmich intercepts a loose pass at the edge of the centre circle and immediately gets his head up, seeking out Gnabry who makes a run in behind down the left channel. It's slightly underhit and Marusic cuts it out.

10' Lewandowski is brought down just outside the D and wants a free-kick, but referee Istvan Kovacs isn't interested.

8' Lazio get their first chance of the game. Some patient build-up play down the left sees the ball come to Muriqi at the edge of the area with his back to goal. He lays it off to Correa who runs onto it and shoots, but Muriqi seems to get in the way slightly and Correa scuffs his effort wide of the far post.

6' Lazio get the ball forward to Correa but he's isolated midway inside the Bayern half, and is soon pressed off the ball as three red shirts converge on him.

4' First chance of the night. Pavard stands up a deep cross from the right byline, and Lewandowski stretches to meet it beyond the far post. He nods it back across goal but Acerbi hooks it clear with Gnabry lurking on his shoulder for a tap-in.

3' A ball almost breaks on the halfway line to see Lazzari in behind down the right, but Hernandez is alive to the danger and intercepts in the centre circle.

2' Each of Lazio’s last 13 games in the Champions League has seen both sides score – that’s the longest such run in the history of the competition, so we should expect some goals tonight.

1' We're off!

The teams are on their way out onto the pitch, and we’re moments away from kick-off. The chaaampiooooons…

No side in the history of the European Cup or Champions League has ever lost the first leg of a knockout tie by three or more goals at home and gone through. There have been 88 attempts. 89th time lucky?

Bayern make five changes from the first leg but don’t look a whole lot weaker for it; Nubel, Hernandez, Pavard, Gnabry and Muller come in. Lazio have left star striker Immobile on the bench – Muriqi replaces him in the XI, with Fares, Escalante and Radu also coming in from the first leg.

SUBS: Danilo Cataldi, Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro, Andreas Pereira, Wesley Hoedt, Thomas Strakosha, Patric, Senad Lulic, Marco Parolo, Lucas Leiva, Ciro Immobile, Mateo Musacchio.

LAZIO (3-5-2): Pepe Reina; Stefan Radu, Francesco Acerbi, Adam Marusic; Mohamed Fares, Luis Alberto, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Gonzalo Escalante, Manuel Lazzari; Vedat Muriqi, Joaquin Correa.

SUBS: Bouna Sarr, Javi Martinez, Lukas Schneller, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, Niklas Sule, Marc Roca, Jamal Musiala, Alphonso Davies.

BAYERN MUNICH (4-2-3-1): Alexander Nubel; Lucas Hernandez, David Alaba, Jerome Boateng, Benjamin Pavard; Leon Goretzka, Joshua Kimmich; Serge Gnabry, Thomas Muller, Leroy Sane; Robert Lewandowski.

Hansi Flick’s side are huge favourites to go through, after winning the first leg 4-1 away from home. Simone Inzaghi’s Lazio are well up against it, but never say never in the Champions League.

Hello, willkommen, ciao! It’s the last night of the Champions League last 16, and reigning champions Bayern Munich are continuing the defence of their crown at home to Lazio.

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