Rio Ferdinand and Owen Hargreaves tear into ‘UGLY’ Bayern Munich after 1-0 Lazio loss… as pundits wonder how Thomas Tuchel’s side will make it out of their ‘rut’ for the Champions League second leg

Owen Hargreaves and Rio Ferdinand stormed to Bayern Munich as they lost 1-0 to Lazio in the first leg of the Champions League last 16 on Wednesday evening.

Thomas Tuchel’s side were keen on an immediate recovery after defeat to Bayer Leverkusen left them five points behind first place in the Bundesliga on Saturday evening.

But the visitors struggled to get past the hosts at the Stadio Olimpico and could not reduce the deficit after Dayot Upamecano’s foul on Gustav Isaksen earned Lazio a penalty – and the defender a red card – which was coolly struck by Ciro Immobile.

The Bundesliga champions will be hoping for a stronger showing at the Allianz Arena next month in a bid to progress to the quarter-finals with silverware on the line.

But TNT Sports experts were pessimistic about Bayern’s chances of a comeback if they played as they did in Rome.

Lazio captain Ciro Immobile struck from the spot to claim the winning goal on his own field

Neither Rio Ferdinand (left) nor Owen Hargreaves found many positives in the visitors’ form

‘Bayern plays ugly football. It’s ugly,” Ferdinand said after the final whistle. ‘I wouldn’t bet on Lazio going there and suffocating them again.

‘Bayern lack confidence, they are in a rut and I don’t see how they will get out of it before the second leg.

“If they haven’t had good results in the league before, I don’t know how they can turn it around. Too many big names are out of form, out of form, out of confidence and it just doesn’t quite click with Bayern.’

Before hosting Serie A in Bavaria, Tuchel’s side still have three more Bundesliga matches to play against VfL Bochum, RB Leipzig and Freiburg, with the former Manchester United citing the break between matches as the only positive.

“The best news for them, apart from the fact that the score is still only 1-0, is that the second leg is in three weeks,” he continued. ‘This gives them some time to recover their shape.

‘If this match were to happen soon, it doesn’t look like this team has what it takes to play anywhere near their strengths to get a result.’

He also compared the Bavarian giants to a ‘soap opera’, adding: ‘Sometimes when things don’t go your way, every little mistake becomes a big highlighted factor and it comes down to a penalty, a goal or a big situation on the field. football club.

“When it’s a big club like Bayern Munich, where every little aspect is emphasized, it becomes a soap opera every weekend and that’s where they are at the moment.”

Hargreaves was also scathing, stating that the criticism Bayern Munich will undoubtedly receive is probably justified.

“Everyone will be under fire in the media, players and coaches, and rightly so,” Hargreaves added. ‘Bayern Munich were favourites, Thomas Tuchel is a world-class coach, the players are rightly world-class.

‘When you play for the big teams, when you play like that, you get criticized. The frustration will be enormous in and around Bayern at the moment.’

Thomas Tuchel cut a frustrated figure in the dugout and defeated after the final whistle

Tuchel himself cut a frustrated figure in his post-match interviews, insisting his team were ‘fully responsible’ for their inability to bring down Maurizio Sarri’s players.

“We started well, had a chance in the first minute and then with Harry Kane and then with Jamal Musiala,” said the former Chelsea and PSG head coach. ‘We had the match under control in the first half.

‘But in the second our performance inexplicably dropped. We made too many individual mistakes, made our opponents stronger and lost concentration. We’ve lost our rhythm.

‘It was completely our responsibility. We lost a game today that looked like we couldn’t lose in the first half.”