Bayern Munich look to book place in quarterfinals of Champions League

Bayern Munich takes a commanding 4-1 lead into their second leg last-16 knockout tie with Lazio. Needing to score at least three goals without reply to even get the match into extra time, the Italian side faces a mammoth uphill task to reach the quarter-finals of the competition for the first time in 21 years.

Both sides come into the clash in winning form with Bayern cruising past Werder Bremen 3-1 while Lazio needed an 85th-minute winner from Felipe Caicedo to escape with the three points over lowly Crotone.

With their win over Werder Bremen, Bayern opened up a four-point lead at the summit of the Bundesliga after RB Leipzig was held to a 1-1 draw by Eintracht Frankfurt. With their domestic fortunes settled at least for the time being, attention now turns to Europe and Flick will want to well and truly put this tie to bed early on to avoid any slip-ups.

With Lazio so far behind in the tie, they are going to need to get off to a fast start and ideally, score a goal early on. Given how shaky Die Roten has looked at times this season, should an early goal go in, then who knows what could happen. However as Rekordmeister showed in the first leg, they are a true juggernaut in Europe and are odds on favourites to progress.

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Team news

Bayern Munich

Hansi Flick will again be without the services of Corentin Tolisso, Douglas Costa as well as Tanguy Nianzou who are all long-term absentees, aside from that, Die Roten will be fully charged to put down a marker to the rest of the teams that they mean business.

Leroy Sane could be one to come into the side after he was a used substitute in the win over Bremen while David Alaba is not likely to be risked after missing Saturday’s clash.

Alexander Nubel could get some very rare minutes in goal for the German Champions, although it remains to be seen how serious Hansi Flick will take the tie considering their sizable advantage.

Lazio

For Simone Inzaghi, he will only be without two players for the clash with Manuel Lazarri and Luis Felipe out with injuries. Otherwise, it is a near full-strength Lazio side that will be hoping to make this game a closer contest than the first leg.

We at Bayern Strikes expect Hansi Flick’s side to advance to the next stage of the competition without really changing through the gears. Even if the squad is rotated, Die Roten should have too much quality for the Italians.

I see Lazio scoring because of Bayern’s defensive fragilities but going forward I expect goals and Hansi Flick will rotate his players in the second half.

Predicted scoreline– Bayern Munch 2-1 Lazio