Chelsea were outplayed and outclassed in the Champions League on Tuesday as Bayern Munich picked up a smooth-sailing 3-0 win.
The loss means the Blues continue to have a poor home form this season and to make matters worse, they have to perform exceptionally well in the second leg if they wish to move to the quarter-finals of the tournaments.
And speaking after the game, the Chelsea manager explained that the class of Bayern Munich clubbed with a bit of European rustiness was the reason for the downfall of his side on Tuesday.
‘That’s football at this level,’ the boss said via the club’s official website.
‘Bayern Munich’s levels were fantastic. Unless we were to get everything right it was going to be a tough night. We didn’t get everything bang on, we weren’t confident on the ball. That was my biggest disappointment, mostly from start to finish.
‘We want to play here, we’ve shown that all season, but today we went away from that. That can happen in an intense atmosphere when all eyes are on. It was a harsh lesson and a reality for the players of the levels we want to get to.
‘There is a lot of quality in their team, and a build to it with players like Lewandowski, Muller, Boateng, Neuer, Alaba, who have been there a long time. There is a lot to their team we have to respect.
4 – Bayern Munich have now scored 3+ goals away from home at four separate English clubs in the Champions League – Arsenal (twice), Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea – with each instance coming since 2013. Bullying. #CHEBAY pic.twitter.com/Ux5AHU0Yyw
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 25, 2020
‘In the first half we suffered in moments but we defended resiliently. Technically our defending wasn’t great but we stayed in the game and had a couple of chances. You have to show more than we showed over 90 minutes. The first goal had a bit of a slip in the build-up, but the clinical nature with which they finished it showed a team of their quality will score goals if you give them chances.
‘They need to use it to positive effect, even if it may not feel like that this evening.
‘A lot of players there either haven’t played Champions League knockout football, have played Europa League which is a big difference, or have played it a few years ago and not at Chelsea when we were getting to semi-finals and finals.
‘When you have an eye-opener like tonight, the only answer, young or old, is to not look at any other part of the team but yourself. ‘Who was I up against, who was my direct competitor? How do I feel I played against them?’
‘There were a couple of performances in our team, mainly Kovacic, that played with a personality and a quality that makes you go ‘he could play in any team with that level’. Other than that, we need to see it wasn’t a night we showed that. We chose a system that played well at the weekend. I knew it would work differently today, allow them a lot more possession by having the extra man at the back, but the extra man would also give us some extra security. After that it’s match-ups. That was a learning curve for us.’
Verdict on Chelsea loss:
This loss was a big reality check for Chelsea and Frank Lampard with most pundits believing that their Champions League campaign could be well and truly over.
While the Chelsea boss will not be willing to accept this but beating Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena will be no easy feat especially with the manager likely to miss the likes of Kante and Christian Pulisic.
