Bayern Munich woe continues as Lazio pull off Champions League shock

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Ciro Immobile scored a 69th-minute penalty to earn hosts Lazio a 1-0 victory over 10-man Bayern Munich and further pile the pressure on the German side in their Champions League round-of-16 first leg.

Immobile converted his spot kick after Bayern defender Dayot Upamecano’s clumsy challenge on Gustav Isaksen for which the France international was sent off with a straight red card.

Disciplined Lazio stifled the German side’s attacks and Bayern were toothless throughout, failing to get a single effort on target in the match.

The Bavarians, favourites going into the game, were desperate to bounce back from Saturday’s 3-0 Bundesliga loss to leaders Bayer Leverkusen, which left them five points off the top.

They will return to Munich with more pressure piling on coach Thomas Tuchel and his team after their second straight defeat. They have failed to score in their last two games.

“It’s been a tough week,” Bayern striker Harry Kane said. “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.”

Bayern started well and pressed the Italians high to create early chances for Kimmich and Kane, who both narrowly missed the target.

The Serie A side, who lost 6-2 on aggregate to Bayern at this stage three years ago, responded with a Luis Alberto missile that flew wide of Manuel Neuer’s goal.

The tempo gradually dropped, Bayern struggled with the disciplined Italian back line and had to wait until the 40th minute to threaten again, with Jamal Musiala firing over the bar from close range.

Lazio should have taken the lead two minutes after the restart when Isaksen only had Neuer to beat but the keeper stood his ground to block his shot.

The Dane earned a penalty when Immobile passed to Isaksen in the box and Upamecano arrived late and stepped on his ankle. Immobile kept his cool and sent Neuer the wrong way to give his team the advantage going into the return leg in Munich on 5 March.

“We worked and prepared for this match to have a say in it,” said Immobile. “I was convinced that the team would put everything out there. We had some opportunities and we had to be good at exploiting them ahead of the return match and we did just that.”

Reuters