Good omens & club record in sight
Sun, 14/03/21, 18:33
7 facts on round of 16 second leg against Lazio
Three weeks after the 4-1 first-leg success in Rome, FC Bayern host Lazio at the Allianz Arena for the second leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie. History suggests that Bayern’s progress is almost an inevitability, while the German record champions also have a club record in their sights – find out why in the facts and stats ahead of the clash with the Laziali:
1. Impossible task for the visitors?
If you believe statistics, Hansi Flick’s side already have one foot in the quarter-finals. No team in the history of the European Cup or Champions League have lost a knockout match after winning the first leg by three goals. All 88 teams who have done that have progressed to the next round.
Halfway there: Bayern celebrate after their 4-1 win success in the first leg in Rome.
2. Lazio’s debut in Munich
Lazio are playing Bayern away for the first time in a competitive fixture. Of the last 21 teams who have made their first appearance at the Allianz Arena in the Champions League, none have won (20 Bayern wins, one draw). The last side to do so were Bordeaux in November 2009 with a 2-0 victory.
3. Bayern on verge of equalling club record
After winning 4-1 in Rome, the Bavarians are now unbeaten in 18 games in Europe’s premier club competitions (W17 D1). If they avoid defeat again in the second leg, Manuel Neuer & Co would equal the club record of 19 Champions League matches without defeat from March 2001 to April 2002. In the history of the competition, only Manchester United have gone longer unbeaten (25 games between 2007 and 2009), while Ajax also managed 19 in a row between 1994 and 1996.
FCB set their previous record of 19 UCL games unbeaten with a 2-1 win over Real Madrid in the semi-final first leg in April 2002.
4. Goals guaranteed
Since their 0-0 draw at Liverpool in February 2019, FCB have scored at least once in each of their 19 Champions League outings, averaging 3.5 goals per game. Moreover, both teams have scored in Lazio’s last 13 UCL matches – the longest run of its kind in the competition.
5. Home force against poor travellers
Since Flick took up the hot seat at Bayern, he’s overseen wins in all six Champions League games at home, by an aggregate score of 18-3. The visitors from Italy, in contrast, have won just one of their last 15 away games in the competition (D5 L9) – a 2-0 success in the group stage at Besiktas in September 2003.
Bayern made it seven consecutive home wins in the Champions League thanks to a 2-0 victory against Lokomotiv Moscow in December.
6. Strong run against Serie A sides
Bayern have won their last four Champions League home encounters with Italian clubs, and their 3-2 defeat against Inter Milan in March 2011 is their only reverse in their previous nine meetings with Serie A teams at the Allianz Arena (W7 D1).
7. Flick getting the best out of Lewandowski
What a record! Robert Lewandowski has scored 14 goals in 12 Champions League appearances under Flick and set up a further five. Whenever the Pole has played in Europe during the 56-year-old’s reign, Bayern have always won. Overall, the Best FIFA Men’s Player has been involved in 33 goals in 31 Champions League home games with FCB (28 goals and five assists).
Lewandowski received another confidence boost just in time for the Lazio return leg by moving up to second in the all-time Bundesliga goalscorers list:
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