Bayern ready for Lazio second leg after successful weekend

Bayern’s convincing 3-1 win at Werder Bremen yesterday became even more valuable on Sunday afternoon as nearest challengers RB Leipzig dropped points in the title race with a 1-1 draw at home Eintracht Frankfurt. The Munich men are now four points clear at the top thanks to that success at the Weserstadion.

Strong performance in Bremen

Bayern laid the foundation of a successful weekend on Saturday with a disciplined performance from the off in Bremen. “The coach said to us before the game that we can’t be caught napping in the early stages this time and have to be completely on it,” said Leon Goretzka afterwards, expressing his relief that he and his teammates didn’t have to summon their comeback qualities again, like they did in the 4-2 win against Borussia Dortmund last time out. “We set ourselves that task and we more than fulfilled it!”

Hansi Flick agreed: “The game panned out how we intended, so credit to the team,” praised the head coach. If there was anything to criticise, it was that Bayern could have won by more. “We certainly should’ve scored more goals,” said Thomas Müller, who was probably thinking of the three times that Robert Lewandowski – now the second-best Bundesliga goalscorer of all time – hit the woodwork.

Robert Lewandowski drew level with Klaus Fischer on Saturday as the Bundesliga’s second-highest goalscorer of all time (268 goals):

Big week ahead

In the end, though, Bayern weren’t too bothered. “Our job was to win here, which we did. It’s another step for us,” added Müller. But with the title race still open, the 31-year-old also urged his team “to stick at it”, warning: “It’s not going to fall into our laps!”

That’s because the German record champions have another two difficult assignments in the coming week, with home matches against Lazio in the Champions League round of 16 second leg (Wednesday, 21:00 CET) and Stuttgart in the Bundesliga (Saturday, 15:30 CET). After a day off on Monday, it will be all systems go for Bayern as they prepare for a busy week. They could be boosted for that by the return of David Alaba, who sat out the trip to Bremen with a knock but completed parts of training on Sunday with the other players who didn’t start against Werder.

Bayern’s opponents also warmed up for Wednesday’s last 16 second leg with a win in their domestic league: