The National Times - Leverkusen need 'big miracle' to reach Champions League last eight, admits Alonso

In the 2005 Champions League final with Liverpool, Alonso helped the Reds come from 3-0 down against AC Milan, scoring the equalising goal before his side won on penalties.

The match became known as the 'Miracle of Istanbul', and Alonso suggested his side will need similar heroics if they are to have any chance of progressing to the final eight.

"After this game we'll need a bit more time and after we recover -- in football we've seen big miracles quite often and we almost need one.

"It's football, it's not my first time, and there's another game at home."

Coming into the tie as slight favourites, and having never lost to Bayern in six games since taking over as coach in October 2022, Alonso's men were outclassed and produced several individual errors.

Bayern took the lead through Harry Kane after just nine minutes. Jamal Musiala pounced on a goalkeeping howler early in the second half to double Bayern's lead, shortly before Nordi Mukiele picked up a second yellow card for a challenge on Kingsley Coman.

Mukiele's replacement, Edmond Tapsoba, held onto Kane in the box too long, giving away a penalty, which the England captain converted.

Speaking with DAZN, Alonso was asked why his team had failed to reproduce their recent strong performances against the German giants.

"Why? It was clear. I think we did it to ourselves. We know the details are important in the Champions League and the second goal, the red card and the penalty, we gave everything Bayern needed to win."

Alonso, who had called for cooler heads and "emotional control" before the match, suggested his side needed to navigate the match better.

"We need to play maturely to control the game better and today we gave all the chances to Bayern to win 3-0.

"The mistakes, the details are important. It's a bitter evening, of course."

T.Ward--TNT