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Today is Bayern’s second-leg Champions League tie against Lazio, which marks a break and partial remake of 12-time defending Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich’s season. Arguably out of contention for domestic league honours due to Bayer Leverkusen’s superb season.

Also, the Bavarians are not in the latter stages of domestic tournaments having been embarrassed in the DFB Pokal by low-tier Saabrucken and in the curtain-raising DFL Super Cup RB Leipzig 3-0, which was Harry Kane’s debut for the club.

As surprising as that loss was, no one in their right mind would have thought that this would set a precedent almost for the season. To be fair, in the Bundesliga, Bayern haven’t been terrible, but the level Bayer Leverkusen have got to is unprecedented.

As mentioned in an article before Xabi Alonso is getting optimum performance from players like Frimpong and Xhaka. Credit is due to Alonso, the fact that he’s able to improve these two players for example.

Is it that bad if Bayern finishes the season trophy-less? The harsh truth is yes. With the huge outlay spent on the England captain Harry Kane and the fact that the Bayern higher-ups got rid of Julian Nagelsmann for a lot less last season, the pressure was always going to be on Tuchel.

Frankly speaking, the man didn’t do himself any favours after reported rifts with players such as Leon Goretzka and Joshua Kimmich, but that’s what reports were saying last year too to be fair to Tuchel. So it’s not just the former Chelsea manager rubbing up senior players the wrong way, there appears to be something inherently wrong in this regard.

Bayern Munich host Lazio in the second leg of the Champions League this evening, where for Bayern only a win and progression to the next round is the only option.

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