Lazio-Bayern Munich
on the pitch at 9pm LIVE for the first leg of the Champions League round of 16.
The other match scheduled for this evening is Paris S.Germain - Real Sociedad
THE CALENDAR OF THE ROUND OF
16
THE EVE Lazio who will face Bayern Munich is very different from the team that three years ago was eliminated by the Bavarians in the round of 16 of the Champions League with an aggregate 6-2 between legs.
Simone Inzaghi was on the bench at the time.
Today Maurizio Sarri: the current Biancoceleste coach, one of the main architects of the second place in the championship last year, is making his debut with Lazio in a direct elimination Champions League match.
"If we start from the assumption that it is an impossible mission, the game is already lost - says the coach in the press conference - We have to try in every way, with a beautiful face without having second thoughts. On paper they are favourites, but the pitch will speak ".
Even if Bayern comes from a 3-0 defeat against Bayer Leverkusen, leaders in Germany, Lazio cannot afford to underestimate the Bavarians even for a moment: "They are strong and different compared to the Bundesliga, much meaner. It's one of those teams that can lose a few games in the league, but not in the Champions League", underlines Sarri.
We will need a Lazio capable "of suffering all together, as a collective".
In other words, the opposite of what we saw with Inter in the Italian Super Cup, "when we were at the mercy of events".
The success in Cagliari last Sunday boosted Lazio's morale after a couple of tough weeks.
The coach admits that "moments of heaviness", when a team works for 3-4 years with the same coach, can arise: "We should never forget that ours is a game, and the game is played by having fun. We need the sense of fun returns. If the child turns off, the adult also turns off, he makes less and makes those who follow him have less fun".
The coach also dedicates a couple of words to tomorrow's absentees: "Patric no longer feels much pain but has some difficulty in tackling. Yesterday Zaccagni was able to train well with shoes without studs, but with shoes with studs he has pain when changing of direction".
Finally, Rovella "has the beginnings of groin pain which has flared up at the moment and he is in difficulty".
Captain Ciro Immobile remembers the double knockout in 2021 against Bayern well: "The growth of these years must be an added value to help us forget that match and make us understand how close we have become to these teams", he says.
The long-distance comparison with Harry Kane, the Bavarians' striker, is an additional incentive for Immobile: "He is one of the best in my role, competing with him means a lot to me, I understand the level I have reached".
Tomorrow "the defenders will take care of Kane", adds Immobile, "it won't be a challenge between the two of us. The real objective is to grow not only as a team, but as a club".
Matches like this are fundamental to add maturity: "Young people must understand that thanks to continuity in the league you can compete with the best in the world. In my career I have played the Champions League a few times, I would have liked to do it more", admits the captain.
The number 17 says he is in "a good physical and mental condition" after the injuries that affected his season, and reiterates that the 2024 European Championship with the national team is an objective: "If you have a good championship you reach the Champions League, if you have a good championship you add the national team, I've always thought this."
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