Bayern Munich did excellent business in the eighth final of the Champions League on Tuesday-evening. On a visit to Lazio, Hansi Flick’s team already enjoyed a comfortable 0-3 lead at halftime, which was not straightened by the Italians in the second half: 1-4. Flick is unbeaten in his first fifteen Champions League games as a trainer; only Louis van Gaal (nineteen matches unbeaten at Ajax) can provide a better starting series. The return will take place on March 17 at the Allianz Arena, where i Biancocelesti so must score at least four times to still have a chance of a quarter-final spot.
Trainer Flick changed his team in two places compared to the lost Bundesliga duel with Eintracht Frankfurt (2-1): Leon Goretzka was at the kick-off instead of Marc Roca; Jamal Musiala did the honors for Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting. Lazio coach Simone Inzaghi made one change to his team compared to the game against Sampdoria (1-0): Senad Lulic was sacrificed for the returned Manuel Lazzari, who was suspended in Serie A. Wesley Hoedt had to settle for this last weekend with a place on the couch.
Where Lazio was able to breathe a sigh of relief in the seventh minute of play when Lewandowski was a few centimeters short of a cross from Joshua Kimmich, the home team did not get away as well two minutes later. Mateo Musacchio sent a backplay pass to his own goalkeeper that was too soft, allowing the alert Robert Lewandowski to intercept. The Pole outplayed José Manuel Reina in a cold-blooded way and made no mistake in the completion: 0-1. It was already the 72nd Champions League goal for Lewandowski, who thus passes Raúl on the top scorers list. Only Cristiano Ronaldo (134) and Lionel Messi (119) scored more often in the champion ball.
After more than fifteen minutes of play, Lazio hoped to receive a penalty when Jérôme Boateng appeared to have committed a foul on Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, but referee Orel Grinfeeld firmly rejected the appeal of the Italians. Although Luis Alberto still had a good chance to level the score halfway through the first act, it was Bayern that scored the next goal moments later. After good combination play, Goretzka played the ball on the edge of the sixteen-meter area to Musiala, who was given a lot of time and diagonally shoved the 0-2 in. At 17 years and 363 days, Musiala is the youngest Englishman ever to score in the Champions League.
The poison cup was therefore not empty for the home team, because Bayern even found a third goal before half time. Kingsley Coman conquered the leather in midfield and after a long rush the attacker ran into Reina, but in the rebound it was an easy task for Leroy Sané to finish: 0-3. If the hosts still had a glimmer of hope for a positive result, that illusion was definitely gone two minutes after the break. Sané rushed over the left flank towards the enemy goal area and gave a cross, which Francesco Acerbi, in an attempt to clear it, slid behind his own goalkeeper near the five-meter line: 0-4.
Nevertheless, Lazio did not show up, and Inzaghi’s team went looking for an honorary goal. That search soon yielded the desired result, because in the 49th minute Correa made it 1-4. The attacker got the ball in front of his feet on the edge of the box, after which he made space for the shot and then successfully took off. After the Roman goal, the pace in the game slowed, although Reina managed to prevent Lewandowski from scoring again ten minutes before the end. Patric Gabarrón had to leave the field half an hour before the final signal for Hoedt, who was ultimately partly responsible for more defensive stability.