Luis Núñez-Villavearán

Updated Tuesday, March 5, 2024-22:52

One can fight for many names.

It could be the name of the father, the country or, as the

Allianz

crowd requested yesterday , the city.

Bayern had a lot to do.

They have won 11 consecutive leagues, but this year they are second, 10 points behind the leader.

They have been falling into the Champions League quarterfinals for three years and, for a month now, they have not had a coach for next season.

But today was the day for resurrection and

Lazio

was the perfect victim.

[Narrative and Statistics, 3-0]

Thus, pride, honor and dignity were at stake in this second round against an Italian team that surprised in the first leg.

He wouldn't do it again.

Bayern

would not allow it

, as they had finished the tie in one hour.

The Germans would apply the roller tactic.

The one with which they terrorized Europe, but which today is somewhat diluted perhaps because they have more stylistic footballers than committed ones.

Müller

remains

from that time.

An old lion, but a lion.

From the first minute he asked for intensity from his teammates and

Sané

and

Musiala

struck on their wings more forward than backward.

Of course, his offensive runs were a delight for the viewer.

Bayern's number 10 looked like he was on skates across the grass when he drove the ball, while the young winger was more of a flash.

From both came two of the most dangerous chances for the Germans in the first half, excluding the goals.

If one culminated a great collective play with a cross shot that went just wide, the other took advantage of a rehearsed corner play to collect Kimmich

's pass

and demand

Provedel

after a great whip.

Lazio played like their coach.

The

Sarri

Fox

had proposed keeping his team in the burrow and waiting for a vulnerability from his prey.

It was the first plan and it turned out well.

In addition, the Italians had a privileged counter shooter.

Luis Alberto

had

Anderson

and

Immobile

to look behind the German centre-backs.

Only

Guendouzi

found a crack in the German defense very early, but his shot went wide.

Too many lines go without having mentioned

Kane

, a player who went to Bayern to win titles and who, so far, has lost two and the Bundesliga has become very complicated for him.

The Champions League, then, is his great asset.

Somewhat missing in the first leg, he showed more attitude in the return.

Several of his shots missed.

And he went with his head so he found the goal after a semi-miss shot by

Guerreiro

.

Just two minutes earlier his Italian counterpart had had it.

Immobile

will remember

that occasion.

After gaining his back on the defense, he took advantage of an involuntary combing by a center back to appear at the far post, but his header went wide.

Once the fox found its helpless prey, it missed the bite.

old lion

Furthermore, just before half-time, the unthinkable happened.

A corner cleared by the Italian defense fell to Dier

's boots

as if from heaven, he impaled and

Müller

, who may be older but is still the smartest, deflected it into the net with his head.

The natural order of things had been restored within 45 minutes.

Bayern's heart rate dropped and Lazio was unable to increase it to bring the tie closer to their interests.

In fact,

Musiala

,

Guerreiro

,

Sane

... the pitcher went to the fountain so much that

Kane

would end up breaking it.

Second for the Englishman who took advantage of a bad clearance by

Provedel

.

He was able to bring

Luis Alberto

closer to the Italians, but it was not the day.

Thus, Bayern saves the stake in the competition that is most affordable if the Champions League can be given that qualification.

Save

Tuchel's

skin and Munich's honor