Bayern suffered their next defeat in the Champions League game against Lazio Rome. The air is getting thinner for coach Thomas Tuchel – he responds evasively when asked about his future.
On the other hand, statistics, as frightening as they are for a club like FC Bayern Munich, can also exonerate the accused. For the first time since 2015, according to one of the data that was quickly pulled out after the 0-1 defeat in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 at Lazio Rome, the Munich team lost two games in a row without scoring their own goal. And back then, in April/May 2015, there were even four bankruptcies without a goal. Under coach Pep Guardiola – look, look!
But there are other statistics that, from Bayern’s perspective, cast a completely negative veil over the game in Rome. For the first time in eleven seasons in the premier class, they lost the first leg of the round of 16 (2012 with a 0-1 win at FC Basel), and they even made a mistake against an Italian team for the first time in 13 years (2011 with a 2-3 win against Inter Milan).
There is also the memory of the last 0-1 defeat in a first leg of the knockout round. That was two years ago, under coach Julian Nagelsmann. In April 2022, the turnaround against FC Villarreal in the second leg failed and they were out due to a 1-1 draw. Nagelsmann carried the loss against the Spanish underdog not just as a flaw, but as an original sin – until his dismissal in March 2023.
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Bayern against Lazio Rome: without a groundbreaking idea
Against Lazio Rome, the inconsistent eighth-placed team in Serie A, progress is a must for Bayern – the quarter-finals are always announced as the minimum goal. We had come this far in the last three years. An exit from Lazio, who qualified for the knockout round in the preliminary round as second in the group ahead of Feyenoord Rotterdam and Celtic Glasgow (i.e. Category C of the European class), cannot and must not happen to the Bundesliga series champions given their own demands.
So Bayern’s reaction four days after their 3-0 humiliation at Bayer Leverkusen backfired. It was a static, tough race without any groundbreaking ideas. A lot of piecemeal work against an opponent whose quality is limited because of their play. After an okay first half, the thread broke, Bayern acted discouraged and without ideas. With a mistake that became the game-deciding negative climax from Munich’s point of view.
Because until that fateful 67th minute, there was no feeling that the clear favorite from Munich could lose this game. Bayern had control of the ball and opponents and acted complacently, but not forcefully. Then came that one moment, that one mistake from Dayot Upamecano that could prove costly. After a counterattack by the Romans, the French central defender attacked Gustav Isaksen in the penalty area, too boldly. Upamecano stepped on the Danes ankle penalty and red card for rough play. Ciro Immobile, Lazio’s iconic center forward, once under contract with BVB for a season, converted the penalty – 0-1.
Bayern coach Tuchel: “We lost the thread”
On the bench, Thomas Tuchel despaired, the Bayern coach shook his head several times, put his hands in his face, seemed at a loss – outwardly quite demonstrative, but understandably he was actually shocked. Above all, his team’s poor offensive performance. Not a single shot on goal, the minute counter had already rattled to 180, including the lethargic performance in Leverkusen. “It was a good first half,” said Tuchel, who mentioned the chances of Joshua Kimmich, Leroy Sané and Jamal Musiala. “We wanted to play more courageously, encouraged the team during the break, but then lost the thread.”
The 50-year-old noted a “crass drop in performance in the second half” and that his team had “completely lost their rhythm, penetration and belief.” His bitter conclusion: “We lost the game ourselves, that is our responsibility.” But also that of the head coach.
Supposedly good games in which a break in the film occurs at some point, triggered by individual mistakes – these are Bayern under Tuchel, who has now been in office for almost eleven months and whose team has repeatedly had blatant failures, apart from a high in September and October. Even after the winter break, there is no sign of any further development, either playful or emotional. “The key hasn’t been found yet, that’s definitely my responsibility,” admitted Tuchel. In addition, for the first time this season there was no reaction to a defeat like the one in Leverkusen. It was the next defeat. Not everything can be reduced to Tuchel, the problems are deeper, but he is on the bench as the person responsible. For how much longer?
Thomas Tuchel on the brink of elimination? Follow Hansi Flick15:30
“Why do you think you are the right coach for FC Bayern?”
It’s understandable that Tuchel didn’t like a question at all at the press conference at the Stadio Olimpico. “Are you worried about your job as Bayern coach after this very poor performance?” Tuchel looked fixedly at the questioner, shook his head and said succinctly: “No!” Question from the reporter: “Why do you think you are the right coach for FC Bayern at this moment? What gives you reason to hope?” The answer now: “I would like to talk about the game.”
But everyone talks about him. About the man who came as a savior less than eleven months ago because the Munich bosses believed all of their season goals were in danger in March 2023 – in all three competitions, mind you: In the DFB Cup as well as in the Champions League, the team had coach Julian Nagelsmann has already reached the quarterfinals. Tuchel’s team is not in the cup this season. In the championship they are in second place, five points behind leaders Leverkusen, and internationally they are threatened with exit in the round of 16. Is the 50-year-old now facing elimination himself?
Are those responsible, CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen and sports director Christoph Freund, now acting as quickly and willingly as Oliver Kahn and Hasan Salihamidzic back then? In Rome, a touched friend said about Tuchel: “Of course he is struggling with the situation, which is very difficult for all of us. Our goal is that we fight our way out of it together. We are all in the same boat.”
Bayern Leverkusen press reviews 12.58
FC Bayern defines itself through the Champions League
Nevertheless, the question remains whether an immediate separation from Tuchel would make sense despite his contract until 2025. Firstly, to go into the second leg against Lazio with a completely different momentum and a different approach in order to still reach the quarter-finals. The bosses have to quickly analyze whether the relationship between the increasingly perplexed Tuchel and the inhibited, tense team is still intact enough for a change in mood and results. And FC Bayern defines itself through the Champions League. This is where you earn international reputation and the millions in additional income that are invested in the squad in order to be able to sign top stars like Harry Kane.
If you don’t make a cut now, then the unspoken decision is: close your eyes and go with Tuchel until the end of the season. Afterwards, a somewhat peaceful separation would be sensible and tolerable for everyone involved, as the situation needs to be dealt with. This would clear the way for a new one and a fresh start with a revised squad. Planning this will be the task of designated sports director Max Eberl, who will take up his job by March 1st at the latest. If Eberl had to fire Tuchel as one of his first official acts in a few weeks, he would appear as a “bad guy”. Would his mentor Uli Hoeneß want this scenario?
Tuchel didn’t sound very confident about the second leg and the next task on Sunday at VfL Bochum, and spoke quietly: “We still have the second leg in three weeks, but also a league game in three days. We have to keep going.” Which means he missed the opportunity to appear combative and optimistic, to encourage the fans and to remind them of Bayern’s numerous “miracles” in return matches. This was done by Thomas Müller, the vice-captain, who always speaks emotionally after games like a fan, some even say, analyzes things as accurately as a potential player-coach.
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Bayern boss Dreesen is hoping for the second leg against Lazio
“We have problems, that cannot be explained away, we are unsettled. It was almost slapstick the way we saved ourselves from one mistake to the next in the second half,” said Müller, but it turned into a principle of hope: “In the end “The result after 25 or 30 minutes of being outnumbered is completely okay given the way the game is going. We’re not going to let ourselves get dragged down, we’re not going to tear ourselves apart, we’re just going to keep going. We still have three weeks left.”
At the sponsors’ banquet in the luxurious Hotel Waldorf Astoria in Rome, located in Monte Mario, CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen spoke after midnight: “This team has the quality and the will to progress. We have to take the message, this positive part, with us into the second leg on March 5th in our arena with our 75,000 fans behind us: That we win this game confidently and advance to a round!” Or as Müller said: “The ball has to go back into the net.”
Which, by the way, happened seven times in the second leg of the 2012 round of 16 against Basel – 7-0.