Chelsea 0-3 Bayern FT

The greatest night in Chelsea’s history saw them defeat Bayern Munich in the 2012 Champions League final. What’s more, they did it in the Bavarian side’s own backyard. Although Bayern exorcised those demons almost immediately by winning the competition a year later – which lead to a mini-revenge over the Blues in the 2013 European Supercup – it still felt like unfinished business for them ahead of this tie.

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On that night in Munich, Chelsea defied the odds by beating a much stronger side. Lampard’s task here is to repeat the trick. Thanks to a combination of the transfer ban and questionable recruitment in recent windows, the current gulf in quality between the 2 sides is arguably bigger than it was in 2012.

Lampard lined up with 5 at the back for the second successive game. Considering his Chelsea side had done the double over Spurs with this set up, and the fearsome attackers Bayern possess, you couldn’t blame him for going with this approach. Personnel presents a more contentious issue for Frank, with Chelsea fans happy to see Giroud finally cement a starting spot but equally puzzled by the inclusion of Barkley over Willian.

Hansi Flick is not a high profile name in management. His last managerial posting was in 2005 with TSG Hoffenheim. Since then, he has been part of the backroom coaching staff at RB Salzburg, the German National team, and his current team Bayern. Since taking over from Kovac his record reads P17 W14 D1 L2. Here, he lined up in a 4-2-3-1, with a reinvigorated Muller in the number 10 role, with the classic Raumdeuter spin he puts on it.



The match started with Bayern asserting their superiority early on, dominating possession and getting in behind the Chelsea back 5 on a couple of occasions. Chelsea were still able to get up the pitch on occasion, Mount in particular getting into good positions but not having the extra yard of pace to trouble Bayern.

The superior movement and technical play of Thiago Alcantara and Kimmich, up against quality players in Jorginho and Kovacic, meant that Bayern’s front 3 were able to feed off better service than Chelsea’s. But it was more than that, the elite movement and technique of Bayern’s front 4 got them into better shooting positions. By half time, it was 0-0, 7 shots to 6 in Chelsea’s favour. The better quality chances fell to the Bavarians, Muller in particular went close when hitting the bar with a header and nearly finding the net with a curler from 25 yards.

If you could commend Chelsea for staying in the game during the first half, then any thoughts of that evaporated during the 2nd. Bayern’s attacking intensity stepped up several notches and the Chelsea resistance was broken. There was an element of luck about the opener, Aziplicueta’s slip allowing Gnabry to drive through on goal. Still, the marking assignments of the Chelsea defence seemed all over the place as the wide run of Lewandowski and the inside run of Gnabry proved too much to handle.

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Chelsea barely had time to process going behind before Gnabry doubled his tally in the 54th minute. This time, Azplicueta’s decision to push up and contest an aerial against Lewandowski (which he unsurprisingly lost) left Christensen in an unenviable 2 v 1 situation as Lewandowski and Gnabry closed in on goal. Rudiger did not help his team mate, failing to narrow the gap that Gnabry ran into. That led to a 1 v1 for the German international who made no mistake with a quality finish beyond Caballero.

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Special mention to Alphonso Davies. The 19 year old was imperious on the night, physically dominating Mount and any Chelsea forward who dueled him. His play for the 3rd goal was fantastic, reminiscent of Bale v Inter, as he drove down the wing, left Christensen in the dirt, and set up Lewandowski for the striker’s first CL Knockout stage goal in 2 years. Davies has been drawing plaudits all season, and it was nice to see him make his mark on such a prestigious stage. Frustration was the theme for the rest of Chelsea’s night, culminating in suspensions for Alonso and Jorginho ahead of the 2nd leg. TikTok, Chelsea’s Champions League run is almost up… or is it?

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Larger margins have been brought back…

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