Ciao Italia! The first Champions League away game in 2021 takes FC Bayern to Rome, the Eternal City, where the holders play Lazio on Tuesday in the Round of 16 first leg in Europe's premier club competition. The two teams face each other for the first time in a competitive match at the hallowed Stadio Olimpico. A venue where both FC Bayern and Germany have achieved great success.
Home ground for Lazio and AS Roma
The Stadio Olimpico di Roma, the official name, has served as the home ground for the two Serie A clubs Lazio and AS Roma since 1953. The stadium was built between 1927 and 1932 and has been extended and redesigned several times. The arena was relaunched in 1964 for the Olympic Games in the Italian capital. In addition to the opening and closing ceremonies, it was also the venue for the athletics events.
FC Bayern have played at the Stadio Olimpico four times and AS Roma were the opponents each time. The record is evenly balanced with two wins and two defeats. A 2-0 defeat in a group match in the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 1978 was followed by a 2-1 win in the second leg quarter-finals of the European Cup Winners Cup in 1984/85. Lothar Matthäus and Ludwig Kögl scored for FCB who were then knocked out at the semi-final stage by Everton.
Biggest Champions League away win
There have been two away matches at the Olimpico in the Champions League: In the group stage in 2010/11, Bayern lost 3-2 despite being 2-0 up at half-time (Mario Gómez brace) before a 7-1 followed four years later, also in the group stage. Goals from Arjen Robben (2), Mario Götze, Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Müller, Franck Ribéry and Xherdan Shaqiri secured the biggest away win to date for FC Bayern in Europe's premier club competition.
Germany can also look back at great triumphs including the 1980 European Championships. Germany beat Belgium in the final 2-1 with both goals scored by Horst Hrubesch. Today's chairman of the board Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Walter Junghans, goalkeeping coach with the FC Bayern Reserves, were the two players from the German record champions in the squad.
Half a dozen FCB World Cup winners
Ten years later, there were six FC Bayern players in the Germany squad that beat Argentina to win the World Cup for the third time following on from 1954 and 1974: Raimond Aumann, Klaus Augenthaler, Hans Pflügler, Jürgen Kohler, Stefan Reuter and Olaf Thon. In addition, the captain, Matthäus, and scorer of the winner, Andy Brehme, were former FCB players in the team coached by Franz Beckenbauer.
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