عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Sports

Harry Kane and Bayern Head to Lazio Needing to Bounce Back After Leverkusen Loss 

Bayern's Leroy Sane covers his face besides Harry Kane after the German Bundesliga soccer match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and FC Bayern Munich at the BayArena in Leverkusen, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024. (AP)
Bayern's Leroy Sane covers his face besides Harry Kane after the German Bundesliga soccer match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and FC Bayern Munich at the BayArena in Leverkusen, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024. (AP)
TT
TT

Harry Kane and Bayern Head to Lazio Needing to Bounce Back After Leverkusen Loss 

Bayern's Leroy Sane covers his face besides Harry Kane after the German Bundesliga soccer match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and FC Bayern Munich at the BayArena in Leverkusen, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024. (AP)
Bayern's Leroy Sane covers his face besides Harry Kane after the German Bundesliga soccer match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and FC Bayern Munich at the BayArena in Leverkusen, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024. (AP)

This was meant to be the year that Harry Kane finally won a trophy. The Champions League might be his best chance now.

Bayern Munich heads to Lazio in the round of 16 on Wednesday needing to bounce back after a 3-0 loss to Bayer Leverkusen left it five points off the Bundesliga lead. Kane is on track to be a member of the first Bayern team since the 2011-12 season not to win the league.

Injuries are weighing Bayern down, coach Thomas Tuchel's tactics are in question and forward Thomas Müller questioned his teammates' mentality in the “nightmare” Leverkusen loss.

Kane has 24 Bundesliga goals already but never came close to a 25th on Saturday. He was shut out of the game as Bayern fell further behind the league leader. Bayern's attack was neutralized by Leverkusen and the entire team had just one shot on goal.

There are 13 games left and much can still happen, but Bayern's title hopes now rest on Leverkusen slipping up. Not so easy when Leverkusen is unbeaten in 31 games.

That makes Wednesday's game at Lazio all the more important.

The Italian team, eighth in Serie A, may not be the hardest opponent Bayern could have faced in the round of 16, but the pressure is on the players and coach to improve.

Left back Alphonso Davies, midfielder Konrad Laimer and forwards Serge Gnabry and Kingsley Coman all remain injured, while goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and right back Noussair Mazraoui were rested Monday before returning to training Tuesday ahead of traveling to Italy.

Tuchel defended his tactics after the decision to switch from a back four to a back three for the first time this season backfired. Leverkusen exploited space on Bayern's left flank, where Tuchel had deployed Sacha Boey, usually a right back.

Bayern's transfer strategy is also in question after Josip Stanišić, a Bayern right back on loan at Leverkusen, scored the first goal. The way Leverkusen overwhelmed the central midfield pairing of Aleksandar Pavlovic and Leon Goretzka was a reminder that Bayern's season might look different had the club's plans to sign Joao Palhinha from Fulham in September not collapsed at the last minute.

Kane reeled off a list of Bayern's attacking faults after the Leverkusen loss.

“In the final third we weren’t good in one-on-one battles, we weren’t good in duels. The final delivery wasn’t there today. So a really disappointing day with the ball,” Kane said.

Against Lazio, Kane and his teammates are under pressure to do better.

Most Viewed

 
 
Sports

Osorio Topples Osaka, Kvitova Ousted at Indian Wells

INDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 05: Camila Osorio of Columbia plays a backhand against Naomi Osaka of Japan in their first round match during the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 05, 2025 in Indian Wells, California. Clive Brunskill/Getty Images/AFP
INDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 05: Camila Osorio of Columbia plays a backhand against Naomi Osaka of Japan in their first round match during the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 05, 2025 in Indian Wells, California. Clive Brunskill/Getty Images/AFP
TT
TT

Osorio Topples Osaka, Kvitova Ousted at Indian Wells

INDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 05: Camila Osorio of Columbia plays a backhand against Naomi Osaka of Japan in their first round match during the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 05, 2025 in Indian Wells, California. Clive Brunskill/Getty Images/AFP
INDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 05: Camila Osorio of Columbia plays a backhand against Naomi Osaka of Japan in their first round match during the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 05, 2025 in Indian Wells, California. Clive Brunskill/Getty Images/AFP

Naomi Osaka was bundled out of the first round at Indian Wells on Wednesday, falling 6-4, 6-4 to Camila Osorio in the Japanese star's first tournament since injury forced her out of the Australian Open.

Former world number one Osaka, now ranked 56th in the world, looked rusty against the 52nd-ranked Colombian, struggling to find the range on her powerful groundstrokes on a chilly night in the California desert.

"There were certain things that felt extremely off because I could only start to practice serving after a certain amount of time and stuff like that," said Osaka. "So I think given the situation, it wasn't that terrible.

"I don't feel like I played well at all, but I had chances to be in the match."

Osorio, making a return from a lengthy injury break herself, challenged Osaka with an array of drop shots and slices and gained the lone break of the opening set for a 5-4 lead.

She served it out without a hitch then broke Osaka to open the second.

The Japanese star immediately broke back, but Osorio gained the upper hand with a break in the seventh game. After Osaka fought off a match point against her own serve Osorio served it out, fighting off four break points to seal it with a stinging forehand winner.

"It's crazy for me, a dream come true," said Osorio, who pulled out of last week's event in Merida, Mexico, with an abdominal injury.

She had never won a match at Indian Wells, and became the first Colombian woman to beat a former world number one.

Osaka, who returned from a 15-month break last year after giving birth to daughter Shai in 2023, reached her first final since 2022 in Auckland, but retired from the title match with an abdominal injury.

Back for the Australian Open, she was forced to retire from her third round match with an abdominal strain.

"It just feels like a little bump in the road," Osaka said. "I'll be back in Miami and hopefully I'll have way more serve practice under my belt and things like that."

Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, on the comeback trail seven months after giving birth to her son Petr, also fell in the first round.

France's 70th-ranked Varvara Gracheva beat the Czech 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, but the 24-year-old was full of admiration for her 34-year-old opponent, who lifted the trophy at Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014.

"If you let me step back a little bit, I really want to congratulate her," Gracheva said. "Because she had a child quite recently, and I'm so happy that she now has the role of a mother and a tennis player, which is very demanding. It's very inspiring for sports, athletes, women -- it's just amazing."

All 32 men's and women's seeds have first round byes in this combined ATP Masters and WTA 1000 tournament.

Gracheva lined up a second-round meeting with ninth-seeded Mirra Andreeva, the 17-year-old Russian who became the youngest ever WTA 1000 champion in Dubai last month.

In other matches, French veteran Caroline Garcia beat US wild card Bernarda Pera 6-3, 6-4 to line up a second-round meeting with second-seeded defending champion Iga Swiatek.

In men's action, Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands beat Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-3 to book a second-round meeting with top-seeded German Alexander Zverev, who heads a field missing world number one Jannik Sinner as he serves a three-month drugs ban.

China's Bu Yunchaokete defeated American Nishesh Basavareddy 7-5, 6-4 to book a second-round match against Russian fifth seed Daniil Medvedev, runner-up the past two years to Carlos Alcaraz -- who is seeded second as he chases a rare three-peat.

Japanese veteran Kei Nishikori, who revealed during the Australian Open that he almost quit tennis last year after lengthy battles with injury, defeated Spain's Jaume Munar 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (7/3) to line up a second-round match against 18th-seeded Ugo Humbert of France.