Bayern's Lazio crunch clash offers outgoing Tuchel lifeline

Mired in mid-table in Serie A, Lazio - who had three players sent off in Friday's loss to Milan - are also under pressure, but take a 1-0 first-leg lead in the last 16 tie to the Allianz Arena. Hired two-thirds of the way through last season after Bayern surprisingly fired Julian Nagelsmann, Tuchel is on his way out, having struggled to keep Bayern on track for the Bundesliga title with Leverkusen comfortably in pole position.

Two early German Cup exits, and elimination at the hands of eventual champions Manchester City in Europe last season, means that Tuchel's only trophy was last year's Bundesliga, somewhat gifted on goal difference by Borussia Dortmund's final-day collapse. Nagelsmann lost just 10 of 84 games in charge of Bayern.

With largely the same squad, plus England captain Harry Kane and South Korea defender Kim Min-jae, Tuchel has already lost 11 of his 45 matches.

Friday's 2-2 draw with Freiburg and Leverkusen's 2-0 win at Cologne on Sunday mean Bayern are 10 points behind with 10 league games remaining in the Bundesliga title chase. Despite Tuchel's side winning just one of their past five games, the Bayern hierarchy promised the coach will see out the season. 

German media however have claimed the only thing keeping Tuchel in a job is the lack of a reasonable interim alternative. All of Bayern's assistant coaches came to the club with Tuchel. The club is reluctant to appoint a permanent coach, with sights firmly set on a move for Leverkusen's Xabi Alonso in the summer. 

After Friday's game, Tuchel said his side were not lacking "desire" but rather "discipline", saying "we played completely without structure" while criticising his team's "body language". "We did things we've never trained, that we've never even