Ciro Immobile's penalty sees Lazio edge 10-man Bayern Munich
On Wednesday, Ciro Immobile scored a penalty in the 69th minute to give hosts Lazio a 1-0 victory over 10-man Bayern Munich in the Champions League round of 16 first leg.
Immobile converted his penalty kick following Bayern defender Dayot Upamecano's clumsy challenge on Gustav Isaksen, for which the France international was dismissed with a straight red card.
Disciplined Lazio stifled the Germans' attacks, and Bayern were toothless throughout, failing to register a single shot on target.
The Bavarians, who were favourites going into the game, were desperate to recover from Saturday's 3-0 Bundesliga loss to league leaders Bayer Leverkusen, which dropped them five points behind.
They will return to Munich with increased pressure on coach Thomas Tuchel and his team following their second consecutive defeat. They haven't scored in their last two games.
"We started well had a chance in the first minute and then with Harry Kane and then with Jamal Musiala. We had the game under control in the first half," Tuchel said.
"But in the second our performance dropped inexplicably. We made too many individual errors and made our opponents stronger and we lost concentration. We lost our rhythm."
"It was completely our responsibility. We lost a game today that in the first half looked like we could not lose it."
Tuchel downplayed concerns about his situation.
"Worried about my future? No I am not," he said.
Bayern created early opportunities for Joshua Kimmich and Harry Kane, who both narrowly missed the target.
The Italians, who lost 6-2 on aggregate to Bayern in this stage of the competition three years ago, responded with a powerful Luis Alberto strike that flew wide of Manuel Neuer's goal.
The tempo gradually dropped as Bayern struggled with the disciplined Italian back line, and it took until the 40th minute for Musiala to threaten again, firing over the bar from close range.
Lazio should have taken the lead two minutes after the restart when Isaksen had only Neuer to beat, but the keeper stood firm to save his shot.
The Dane was awarded a penalty when Immobile passed to Isaksen in the box, and Upamecano arrived late and stepped on his ankle.
Immobile kept his cool and sent Neuer the wrong way, giving Maurizio Sarri's team the lead heading into the second leg in Munich on March 5.
"We worked and prepared for this match to have a say in it," said Immobile. "I was convinced that the team would put everything out there."
"We had some opportunities and we had to be good at exploiting them ahead of the return match and we did just that."
SportsLigue