Trailing by one goal following last month's first leg in Rome, Bayern Munich finds themselves in a precarious position as they aim to overturn Lazio's lead in the Champions League last-16 showdown on Tuesday.

The Serie A side, buoyed by their narrow advantage, are on the cusp of a first quarter-final appearance in two decades. Meanwhile, the German juggernauts, having made the quarter-finals for three consecutive years, are relentlessly pursuing a seventh European crown.

Match Preview:

Bayern Munich's journey through Group A seemed like an autumn stroll, but their path hit a snag at Stadio Olimpico, suffering a 1-0 defeat. The turning point of the closely contested encounter came with Dayot Upamecano's red card and the subsequent penalty converted by Lazio's captain, Ciro Immobile. Compounded by the news of manager Thomas Tuchel's impending departure, Bayern faces mounting pressure to salvage their season.

The Bavarians' recent form has been erratic, with a mere one win in their last five matches, raising doubts about their ability to defend their title. With domestic silverware slipping away, Bayern's focus now shifts to Champions League redemption. However, history is not on their side, as they have been eliminated from their last seven ties after losing the first leg.

Lazio, on the other hand, entered the clash with confidence, backed by Immobile's crucial penalty. Their journey through Group E was marked by resilience, epitomized by Ivan Provedel's late equalizer against Atletico Madrid. Despite their mixed away form in Serie A, Lazio's strong showing in European competitions and recent victories over city rivals Roma in the Coppa Italia underscore their potential threat to Bayern's aspirations.

Team News:

Bayern will be without the suspended Upamecano, while Lazio's Immobile aims to extend his European goal-scoring record. Both sides will be bolstered by the return of key players, setting the stage for a compelling encounter.

Prediction and Insights: 

Out of 3 previous meetings, Bayern München have won 2 matches while Lazio won 1. No matches between them have ended in a draw.

Previous matches between Bayern München and Lazio have averaged 3 goals.

Coming into this game, Bayern München has picked up 10 points from the last 5 games, both home and away. That's 2 points per game on average. BTTS has landed in just 2 of those games. Bayern München has scored 6 times in the last 5 fixtures.

Coming into this game, Lazio has picked up 9 points from the last 5 games, both home and away. That's 1.8 points per game on average. BTTS has landed in just 1 of those games. Lazio has scored 5 times in the last 5 fixtures.

Find the link here: https://www.msport.com/gh/web/sports/Soccer/International_Clubs_UEFA_Champions_League/Bayern_Munich_vs_Lazio/sr:match:46295665?KMA 

The Estadio Santiago Bernabeu will host yet another great UEFA Champions League encounter when German side, RB Leipzig, pays UEFA Champions League giants, Real Madrid, a visit for the 2nd leg of the round 16 game between the two.

With the home team having a 1-0 advantage from the 1st leg, it is expected that Carlo Ancelotti’s side will get the job done and secure a routine qualification to the quarter-finals of the competition but the uncertainty and unpredictability of Leipzig means till the game ends, anything is possible as is the case in the sport of football.

Marco Rose and his RB Leipzig team will need to sort out their consistency issues quickly before the game kicks off because if they have any dreams of qualifying ahead of the record winners, they can’t send the form of 2 wins and 2 losses in their last four games to the Bernabeu.

Neither can they go to the Bernabeu, where Girona and Sevilla have suffered recently, and play as they did in 2 of their 4 most recent away games against Bayern and Stuttgart when they lost 2-1 and 5-2 respectively.

Real Madrid Will Always Want to Win the Champions League

There is probably only one club in the world that sees not winning the UEFA Champions League for one season as a failure and that is Real Madrid.

Lifting the UEFA Champions is always a target for Real Madrid every season and that is why they have won it more than any other side and have all the records in the competition to their name and this season will not be any different.

The bad news for RB Leipzig is that, a round-16 elimination in the UEFA Champions League is just not something that anybody at Real Madrid finds remotely acceptable and that they did not win it the season before means that they are going to have to make it to the fans by going a lot more beyond round 16.

There is a reason why the current defending champions of the UEFA Champions League, Man. City and Real Madrid are the only two teams to have a 100% record of wins in the competition this season.

Leipzig Can Play Without the Pressure of Favourites

The thing RB Leipzig does not have in common with Real Madrid is probably the thing that is going to help them the most when they face them at the Bernabeu and that is the tag of favourites and everything like the pressure that comes with it.

RB Leipzig have not been a constant historical presence and winners of the UEFA Champions League. As a matter of fact, it was not until recent years that RB Leipzig became a European-recognized team.

The German club find themselves 1 place and 1 point from the UEFA Champions League places in 5th in the German Bundesliga and while that might not be the expectations of their fans, it is not the end of the world for them and it would have been if that were Real Madrid.

Real Madrid is just a lot more levels ahead of the German club and that is just a fact, however, fortunately for them, that is the thing that might mean they can play the best of their football at the Bernabeu without that weight on their shoulders.

Match Stats

• Real Madrid and RB Leipzig have not drawn any of their last 3 matches against each other with the Spanish giants winning 2 and losing 1.

• RB Leipzig participated in some high-scoring meetings, with over 2.5 goals scored in their last 5 away matches in the Champions League.

• Real Madrid haven't lost any of their last 9 home matches in the Champions League, managing to score at least one goal in all of them.

You can check out the Real Madrid vs RB Leipzig UEFA Champions League game on MSport here:

https://www.msport.com/ng/web/sports/Soccer/International_Clubs_UEFA_Champions_League/Real_Madrid_vs_RB_Leipzig/sr:match:46295673?k=Real%20Madrid?EMA

With an 11-point gap between them and 2nd-placed Stade Brestois, and a 13-point gap between them and their upcoming opponents, Monaco at 3rd, PSG are already League 1 winners in the minds of many.

However, till that happens, they have to travel to the Stade Louis II stadium, a place they have not managed to win at in the league since 2021 for their round 24 Ligue 1 fixture.

With that said, the trip to such troublesome ground for Luis Enrique's side could not have come at a better time with PSG currently enjoying an 18-game unbeaten run in the French league.

Their last defeat in the Ligue 1 came in the 5th game of the league against Nice in September 2023.

Contrastingly, Monaco would be wishing they were not playing PSG now with the form they have at the moment with only 2 victories to boast of in their last 6 league games suffering 2 defeats and 2 draws in that time.

Can Monaco Keep a Perfect Home Record Against PSG?

Monaco’s reputation and record against Les Parisiens at home in the league is an admirable one, to say the least, with Les Monegasques not only beating PSG in all their last 3 league games at the Stade Louis II but beating them by 3 goals in each of them.

Going into this match day 24 fixture, the burning question on the minds of neutrals and Monaco fans in particular, is whether or not their club can maintain their perfect home record versus the de facto league Champions.

Adolf Hütter’s men can take inspiration from not only their excellent home record versus the Parisiens in recent times but also their overall performance versus PSG having won 4 of the previous 7 league games against PSG drawing 1 and losing the other.

This game against PSG is just the game Monaco needs to use as a catalyst to turn their inconsistent form into consistent with another home win regardless of their form.

How Will the No-Mbappe Trial Fare Against Monaco?

PSG manager Luis Enrique has said his team has to get used to playing without their top scorer Kylian Mbappe with the French winger set to depart the club from the French capital at the end of the current season.

To that end, the Spanish manager has started testing his team without Kylian Mbappe in games with the Real Madrid-linked player coming from the bench in the 62nd minute against Nantes and being withdrawn in the 65th minute against Rennes.

It is expected that again for the third straight league game, Kylian Mbappe will not be allowed to play all 90 minutes against Monaco and given that it took a last-minute penalty to salvage a draw against Rennes last time out, many wonder how PSG fares without Mbappe against Monaco.

Match Stats

• Monaco is ranked 2nd in goals scored per match (1.9 goals) while PSG are ranked 1st in goals scored per match (2.3 goals) in the league this season.

• AS Monaco haven't kept a clean sheet in their last 12 matches in the league while PSG have been awarded the most penalties this season (9).

• AS Monaco's last 7 games (Ligue 1) have seen both teams score while Paris St. Germain have been prolific in their 16 most recent clashes in Ligue 1, scoring 1+ goals in all of them.

• Monaco are the team that has beaten Paris SG most often in Ligue 1, winning 45 times (D27 L23). That’s at least 10 more wins than other teams have managed against PSG in the top flight.

You can check out the AS Monaco vs PSG Ligue 1 game on MSport here:

https://www.msport.com/ng/web/sports/Soccer/France_Ligue_1/Monaco_vs_PSG/sr:match:42004941?k=AS%20Monaco?EMA