As of: February 14, 2024, 4:35 p.m
By: Hanna Raif, Philipp Kessler
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Bayern are in crisis.
After the defeat in Leverkusen, a victory in the Champions League against Lazio is needed.
No matter how, emphasizes sports director Christoph Freund.
Munich - Around 50 hours, one warm-up lap and two training sessions - that's all Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel had between his arrival from Leverkusen on Sunday night and the start of the team bus towards the airport on Tuesday afternoon.
And yet when the special aircraft AZ8965 took off for Rome, it was clear to all passengers what the hour had come.
A win in the first leg of the round of 16 at Lazio Rome this Wednesday (9 p.m., DAZN) is mandatory so that the quiet talk of crisis on Säbener Straße after the 3-0 loss at Bayer does not turn into an absolute mood of alarm.
Because if the next title were in acute danger so early, as we hear, nothing can be guaranteed.
FC Bayern visits Lazio Rome
“Of course the defeat in Leverkusen still hangs with us because it was a very important game because we put in a poor performance and clearly lost.
But we are now happy that things are continuing.
An important game in Rome.
We want to present ourselves differently and that’s what we’ll do,” said Christoph Freund before he boarded the plane.
Of course, everyone at FC Bayern was “very disappointed” about the poor performance in Leverkusen.
But the sports director also makes it clear: “Now we are tickled and want to win games in the next few weeks.”
Of course, Freund also tries to practice optimism - different competition, different signs.
And Bayern have actually been showing consistently better performances in the Champions League than in the Bundesliga for months.
There were six wins in the perfect group phase, plus the supposedly easy Los Lazio.
Under normal circumstances you would say: No problem!
But in times like these, when the coach doesn't understand his players and the players don't understand their coach, unfortunately little is normal.
Freund: “Of course the best thing would be for us to have a really convincing performance and then go home with a win.
But we’ll also take a really dirty win.”
Christoph Freund comes to the Allianz Arena before a game.
© Sven Hoppe/dpa
The tension was evident in the traveling entourage, because everyone knows what Thomas Müller said: “In the knockout phase it starts from scratch again.” If you want to win the pot in the end, “you have to be top in the knockout phase” - and That's exactly what the record champions haven't managed to do very often since their last triumph in 2020.
In each of the last three years, the team ended in the quarter-finals, losing out to Paris (2021), Villarreal (2022) and Manchester City (2023).
Therefore, after the upheaval in the management and coaching positions, they actually started the season with the goal of becoming favorites for the title again.
The pressure is not necessarily lessened by the fact that the league is facing the first titleless season since 2012 and the cup winner will 100 percent not come from Munich.
Added to this is the dream of coming full circle at London's Wembley Stadium, where the final is on June 1st.
De Ligt demands 200 percent against Lazio
There are six games to get through by then.
And if Matthijs de Ligt is to be believed, an exceptionally good performance in the Roman Olympic Stadium will be necessary to survive against the eighth-placed team in Serie A.
The defender is preparing for an “intense game with and without the ball” and says: “We know that Lazio will give 200 percent, so we have to be at 200 percent to win.” In comparison to the desolate performance both offensively and defensively On Saturday in Leverkusen an increase of at least 150 percent is necessary.
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Bayern want to force their game on the Romans - and not allow themselves to be dictated by others.
But it will only become clear on the field how deep the traces left by the trip to Leverkusen are.
Three sentences that de Ligt actually said with regard to the opponent actually fit his own situation much better.
They read: “Sometimes it can happen that a team that is going through a negative phase finds new energy in the Champions League.
European cup games can be a great motivation.
We have to be ready.”
Hanna Raif, Philipp Kessler