Bayern Munich boss Tuchel faces biggest test against Lazio in Champions League last 16

Bayern Munich manager Thomas Tuchel goes into Tuesday’s Champions League last-16 showdown against Lazio with his job on the line at the Allianz Arena.

The Bundesliga giants trail by a goal after last month’s first leg in Rome and defeat in Munich could hasten Tuchel’s exit from the club.

The loss against Lazio, thanks to a 69th-minute Ciro Immobile penalty, was the second in a trio of defeats that prompted Bayern to announce that Tuchel will leave at the end of the season.

Bayern trail Bayer Leverkusen by a massive 10 points in the league and are already out of the German Cup, so their best hope of silverware hangs on beating Lazio to advance to the Champions League quarter-finals.

Defeat against the Italians will almost certainly bring a premature end to Tuchel’s short reign. He joined Bayern on a two-year deal in March last year, a few months after his departure from Chelsea.

Bayern’s latest setback in the league was a 2-2 draw with Freiburg on Friday, which allowed Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen to stretch their lead at the top of the table.

One of the sticking points for Tuchel this season has been his frequent criticism of his players and he let rip again after the Freiburg defeat.

“I saw the effort in the first half, but it was really undisciplined in the positions,” said Tuchel. “It was partly hari-kari. I think we had periods where our centre-back went behind the full-back. We did things that we had never trained before, that we never talked about."

Looking forward to the Lazio game, Tuchel was more upbeat.

“We’ve had these ups and downs for a very long time. So it’s not out of the question that we’ll deliver a top performance on Tuesday,” he said. “We’re going to need one over 90 minutes.