Last Wednesday night, Maurizio Sarri’s Lazio shocked the world by beating one of the favourites to win the title, Bayern Munich, the German outfit had gone 11 seasons without losing their first leg of the round of 16, until a defensive masterclass from the Italian side which saw them finish the match without a single shot on target.
This defeat comes off the back of yet another defeat for the current Bundesliga champions against first-place Bayern Leverkusen, led by none other than ex-Bayern Munich midfielder Xabi Alonso, which saw Tuchel’s side lose 3-0 and just one shot on target, their worst defeat ever in the Bundesliga.
After the second defeat, manager Thomas Tuchel was quick to call out his own defender Dayot Upamecano after a rash tackle from the Frenchman on Lazio’s forward Gustav Isaksen not only gave away a penalty that was easily put away by captain and club legend Ciro Immobile, but reduced Bayern to 10 men after the defender was given a straight red card.
After the final whistle, the former Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea manager made it clear that he was frustrated with the final result and his player’s actions.
“We’re frustrated and angry about the defeat,” Tuchel said. “I think we lost the game, I’m not sure Lazio won it.”
“We did everything we could to fall behind, making errors and losing confidence. (There was) no need for Upamecano to go in like that. It’s not wild or intentional – but just block the shot.”
Following the Incident, the German giants looked eager to get the equaliser, but it was Lazio who had the clearest chance to score, with their striker Isaksen missing just a bit of luck to make it 2-0 to the home side.
The German manager was clear in his post-match interview, saying that it was “completely our responsibility”.
We started well, had a chance in the first minute and then with Harry Kane and then with Jamal Musiala, the German boss then continued saying: “We had the game under control in the first half.
“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,” he said.
Given the fact that it is the Managers 10th loss in 43 games, pressure has started to pile up with the Bavarian side looking like they will have their first trophyless season since 2011-2012, being already knocked out of the DFB Pokal and sitting in second place five points behind unbeaten leaders Bayern Leverkusen.
