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TOhen Jérôme Boateng and Joaquin Correa ran after the ball, Alexander Nübel had to be Manuel Neuer for the first time. The match between FC Bayern and Lazio Roma had ended 13 minutes when Luis Alberto, the Italian playmaker, passed the ball flat and quickly forward. Defender Boateng and striker Correa shot out, but Nübel, the goalkeeper, was quicker. He caught the ball twenty meters from his goal. Where there has to be a goalkeeper who represents Manuel Neuer.
On Wednesday night, 24-year-old Nübel did almost everything right in his third game for FC Bayern, but the truth is that there was not much to do wrong. His Bayern controlled the second leg of the second leg of the Champions League. In the end, he won 2-1 in his own stadium. That was easy enough to qualify for the quarterfinals. They even won the first leg in Rome 4-1. The pairings for the quarterfinals will be drawn on Friday.
Because there was no tension in the game on Wednesday, you could focus on the side stories from the beginning. One of them: Nübel and his third commission. If the newcomer was allowed to keep the goal for once in his first eight months in Munich, there were games to be played in which nothing could go wrong. In the first round of the DFB Cup against Düren’s fifth division team (final score: 3-0). In the preliminary round of the Champions League against Atlético de Madrid, when the group victory was already assured (final result: 1: 1). And even if the stakes were high in the knockout match against Roma, one could assume with a clear conscience that nothing would go wrong. The advantage in the first leg was great, the risk in the second leg was small. So it should have been easy for Bayern coach Hansi Flick to forgive his cold number one Manuel Neuer and set up his number two Alexander Nübel.
In the end, Nübel only had to hold the ball twice in 90 minutes: a harmless header from Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (16th) and a shot from Joaquín Correa in a heads-up (70th), which was previously offside. When Marco Parolo was able to head freely to goal from five meters in the 82nd minute, Nübel was unable to do anything. A goal that should bother you, but that you don’t have to blame.
The goal conceded did not change anything in Bayern’s victory, because at that moment they were already leading 2-0. In the 31st minute, Leon Goretzka was fouled in the box by Francesco Acerbi. The referee whistled, the Italians complained, but that didn’t change anything: penalty. Robert Lewandowski sank safely (33rd). In the 72nd minute, Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting, who Flick had replaced Lewandowski two minutes earlier, completed a counterattack with a skillful low shot.
That was enough for Lazio. Bayern didn’t play their best game, but they didn’t have to, and the Romans couldn’t. They left without their best striker Ciro Immobile, who only sat on the bench and was not substituted. But Flick was able to replace some of his regular players from the start: Boateng, Goretzka, Müller, Lewandowski, Kimmich. A break that you can certainly take advantage of. VfB Stuttgart arrives on Saturday.
