The caravan of the 2023-24 UEFA Champions League moves towards its knockout chapter as 16 surviving sides are lining up for an action-packed first leg saga of Round of 16. On Wednesday, one of the most decorated clubs of European football Bayern Munich will be hosted by the Italian outfit Lazio at Stadio Olimpico.
The Bavarians are marching towards their 21st successive UCL knockouts campaign after finishing Group A on the pole position. The Six-time European top-division champions have outclassed the likes of Manchester United, Copenhagen, and Galatasaray in the group stages and advanced to the knockouts with an unbeaten record.
Meanwhile, Lazio faced tough competition from Feyenoord and Celtic in order to achieve their club history’s third appearance in the Champions League knockout round. Despite losing the first face-off with Lazio and going winless against Atletico Madrid, the Biancocelesti side still made it to the Final 16 after finishing second in Group E.
Current Form
A major setback for the Bavarians right before the doomsday
Before turning up for the UCL knockout saga, Bayern suffered a devastating defeat at the hands of the domestic league leaders Bayer Leverkusen. Die Werkself also broke Munich’s three-match winning streak of away Bundesliga games with a 3-0 triumph at BayArena. The Bavarians’ goal-scoring form has also been hampered after not finding any breakthrough against Leverkusen while previously netting 11 goals in five appearances.
On the other hand, Lazio was also struggling with form in the domestic Italian league in recent times after dropping crucial points on two consecutive occasions. The Roman Eagles also lost their final UCL group game with the eventual Group E table-toppers Atletico Madrid by 2-0. However, they staged a bounce-back with a thumping 3-1 away victory over Cagliari to be back in the form when it was needed the most.
Head to Head Record
There have not been many instances when we witnessed these two clubs battling out against each other as Lazio has only seven appearances in the UCL main stages till now while the latter club regularly participates in this competition. They have squared off on the competitive levels only two times to date and both of the encounters were won by the Munich-based outfit.
It was the ‘Round of 16’ stage of the UCL 2020-21 edition when they shared the same battlefield twice. Bayern Munich registered an emphatic 4-1 triumph over their Italian counterparts to win the inaugural head-to-head clash of this rivalry on Roman soil. When the Round of 16 saga returned for the Munich leg, the home team once again emerged victorious to seal the quarter-final berth on the aggregate scoreline of 6-2.
Team News
The likes of Serge Gnabry, Alphonso Davies and Kingsley Coman will be the major missing for Thomas Tuchel’s side for this crucial forthcoming contest. The German gaffer kept his key knights Joshua Kimmich, Matthijs de Ligt and Thomas Muller on the bench against Leverkusen as all of them are expected to make a return on Thursday. It will be very interesting to see whether Tuchel will choose between Dayot Upamecano and Kim Min-jae to pair de Ligt or once again entrust Eric Dier.
Maurizio Sarri speculating on the demolition of German invasion
After serving his one-match suspension against Cagliari, Nicolò Rovella will be back in the action holding defensive midfield responsibilities of the Sky Blues. Lazio bossman Maurizio Sarri is keeping an eye on the recoveries of the duo Patric and Mattia Zaccagni. The Spanish defender Patric who has been out of action since mid-January due to a shoulder injury is likely to feature in the matchday squad ahead.
Predicted Starting XIs
Lazio (4-3-3): Ivan Provedel; Adam Marusic, Mario Gila, Alessio Romagnoli, Elseid Hysaj; Matteo Guendouzi, Danilo Cataldi, Nicolo Rovella; Felipe Anderson, Ciro Immobile, Gustav Isaksen
Bayern Munich (4-2-3-1): Manuel Neuer; Noussair Mazraoui, Dayot Upamecano, Matthijs De Ligt, Raphael Guerreiro; Joshua Kimmich, Leon Goretzka; Leroy Sane, Thomas Muller, Jamal Musiala; Harry Kane
Prediction
Even if this match is going to take place on the home turf of Lazio, there is no second doubt that it will be the visiting side that will grace the battlefield as favorites. Lazio fans will be expecting their Sky Blue Knights to capitalize on home advantage and avenge their 2020-21 exit. However, it will be very difficult for the Roman Eagles to pull off as Bayern Munich become an absolute giant whenever the Champions League progresses towards the knockout stages.