'Hungry' Bayern Munich Turn Focus To Lazio After Bayer Leverkusen Humbling

Bayern Munich captain Manuel Neuer insisted on Tuesday there is no leadership problem at the club after a stinging defeat by Bayer Leverkusen put their long reign as German champions under threat. Reeling from a 3-0 humiliation at the hands of Leverkusen, Bayern head to Lazio on Wednesday knowing only a deep run in the Champions League will salvage their season. Bayern have won the Bundesliga each of the past 11 years but now trail Leverkusen by five points, and Neuer said it is not just up to the senior players to turn the situation around. 

"We have a lot of leaders in our own ranks," Germany goalkeeper Neuer said on the eve of Bayern's first leg of their last-16 tie in Italy.

"Thomas Mueller wasn't on the pitch, Joshua Kimmich came on as a substitute and was injured. It's true that with a well-oiled team and a certain spine to it you can sort things out," he said. 

"But if one of the leaders is missing, like at Bayer, others have to take over."

Thomas Tuchel finds himself increasingly under pressure at a club where coaches are judged primarily on the team's Champions League showings, particularly in recent years when Bayern's financial might made domestic dominance a formality. 

Despite winning the double, Niko Kovac never recovered from a last 16 elimination at the hands of Liverpool in 2019. 

Tuchel's predecessor Julian Nagelsmann's days were numbered after his Bayern were dumped out by Villarreal at the quarter-final stage in 2022. 

A poor display against Lazio, who sit eighth in the Serie A table, could push Tuchel closer to an unthinkable exit, less than a year after joining the German champions. 

'Nothing has changed'

With 13 games remaining, Bayern could still bridge the gap -- particularly given Leverkusen's