Harry Kane’s double against Lazio helped Bayern reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League

The first quarter-finalists of the current Champions League are Bayern Munich and PSG. The German champion at home, thanks to Harry Kane’s double, after an away defeat, convincingly beat the Roman “Lazio” in the return match – 3:0, and the strongest French club, in which Kylian Mbappe scored twice, again, this time on the road, defeated the Spanish ” Real Sociedad – 2:1.

Bayern are having an extremely unsuccessful season. Having lost the match for the Super Cup to Leipzig last August, having suffered a defeat in the 1/16 finals of the German Cup in November from Saarbrücken, which plays in the third division of German football and is 10 points behind Bayer 10 rounds before the finish of the Bundesliga. , she has practically given up her hopes of winning at least one domestic trophy. With such achievements, counting on a triumph in the Champions League is, of course, a little naive, although before the home return match with Lazio, the Munich club, even despite the defeat three weeks ago with a score of 0:1, was considered a favorite.

The guests held out for quite a long time, holding back one attack from the hosts after another. The strikes of the most active Munich footballer Leroy Zane, who managed to heal his injury for this game, Jamal Musiala, Rafael Guerreiro and, of course, Bayern’s main scorer Harry Kane followed one after another, but the goal of the Roman goalkeeper Ivan Provedel remained intact. However, in the 39th minute, the Lazio defenders ignored Kane for a few seconds, and the British forward jumped into the goal with his head, which bounced towards him after an unsuccessful shot by Guerreiro. And in injury time, Bayern made the difference they needed. A corner was played, defender Matthijs De Ligt hit the goal hard, and 34-year-old veteran Thomas Müller made a timely header. And hardly anyone could say that the score 2:0 was not due to the game. Bayern were in complete control of the situation on the field, while Lazio’s counterattacks looked very unconvincing.

In the first quarter of an hour after the break, the picture of the game changed a little. The Romans tried to create something real in attack, but, as a rule, they stopped at the approaches to the penalty area. In addition, their strongest striker Ciro Immobile was injured. Not surprisingly, Bayern easily repelled this semblance of an onslaught, and soon after the visiting head coach Maurizio Sarri made a triple substitution, they brought the matter to a big score. Everything looked very simple. Zane shot tightly, Provedel hit the ball, but Kane immediately finished it into the goal, easily adjusting to the rebound. The result is 3:0, and Bayern head coach Thomas Tuchel, who will leave at the end of the season in any case, can calmly prepare his players for the next stage of the main European Cup, where they will probably face a much more skillful opponent.

In the other pair playing for a ticket to the quarterfinals this Tuesday, there was no intrigue to be seen following the results of the first game. After PSG beat Real Sociedad, which was going through a deep crisis, at home with a score of 2:0, the French champion’s chances of reaching the next round looked one hundred percent. The away meeting was relatively easy for the Parisians. Here, too, there was a double, which was scored by Kylian Mbappe in the 56th minute. One return goal, scored within a few minutes by Mikel Merino, did not decide anything. The confident victory of PSG – 2:1 – suggests that before saying goodbye to its brightest star Mbappe, who at the end of this season will move to another club, the French giant will still try to take the height that has not yet been conquered by him – to win the Champions League.

Evgeniy Fedyakov