“You make mistakes at these big giants, you get punished,” says Joe Cole on pundit duty of Chelsea’s occasional carelessness.
Full-time: Bayern Munich 3-1 Chelsea
Some warm words between Kompany and Maresca at full-time. On the pitch, Palmer and Olise cover their mouths as they have a quick chat. The first half was excellent, as a spectacle, and Chelsea were marginally the better side despite the errors that also let Bayern in. Kim’s introduction in central defence seemed to make all the difference for the hosts. So kudos to Kompany for that – or on the other hand, did he get his selection wrong?
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90 min + 5: Upemecano surges upfield out of defence. He is brought down, but the referee doesn’t give a free-kick. It all feels a bit inconsequential.
Liverpool were drawing 2-2, and have just scored through Virgil van Dijk in stoppage time:
90 min: We shall have six minutes added, minimum.
89 min: Palmer has the ball in the net thanks to a lovely pass by Santos. Another lovely goal, but he’s fractionally offside. It was a beautifully weighted pass from a central position, and a delicate finish by the England forward, touching it around Neuer and in.
Nicolas Jackson is coming on, the on-loan Chelsea forward. So is Tom Bischof. Gnabry and Kane off.
“Harry, thanks!” says the stadium announcer as the England captain walks off.
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88 min: The commentators have said that Bayern’s superior experience in this competition has made all the difference in this second half. But it looks to me more like Chelsea have run out of steam a bit.
Garnacho strikes a mediocre shot from an angle that is easily saved by Neuer.
85 min: Laimer is booked for a foul on Pedro. It’s very stop-start. Garnacho gets on the ball again, on the Chelsea left, but makes little progress.
83 min: Maresca yells instructions from the touchline. But Bayern continue to look in total control. Hoddle praises the impact of Kim since he came on at half-time, and his ability to spark attacks from centre-back. Now Diaz hares through, one-on-one after a ball from Gnabry, but he’s offside. There is a coming together with Cucurella and Sanchez, needlessly, with the referee’s assistant’s flag staying down.
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80 min: The 18-year-old Brazilian Estevao on for Chelsea, his Champions League debut. Fernandez comes off.
Maresca is right to change things, but his team look a bit spent, even if Garnacho has made one raid down the wing since coming on.
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78 min: Right now, this is fizzling out. Bayern look comfortable. Chelsea look slightly listless. Now Chalobah is down and injured after sliding in for a challenge on his England colleague Kane.
Still, a Chelsea goal makes it fascinating for the last 10.
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75 min: Fernandez takes the free-kick following the foul on Gusto. It’s deflected high outside the box where Palmer hits a half-hearted volley. Chelsea’s tempo has dropped markedly – it would hardly be surprising if there is fatigue throughout the squad given their Club World Cup shenanigans. (That said, the intensity of their early pressing was going to be impossible to maintain regardless.)
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73 min: Gusto goes down, just outside the Bayern penalty area, under a clumsy challenge by Luiz. Will we have a box-office finish, can Chelsea find a way back into this?
70 min: The Bayern faithful are in full voice now. It looks like it’ll be six victories out of six to start the 2025/26 campaign. This has been a test and it seems they’ve passed. Kompany will be concerned at how easily Chelsea have been able to cut through them, at times, and they will need to tighten up defensively if they are going to trouble the scorers in the latter stages of the competition.
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67 min: Hoddle compares the prolific Kane to Teddy Sheringham. “If you don’t rely on your pace when you’re young, you can play on for ever.”
Olise then slams a shot wide after a classy Bayern move. Two changes for Chelsea: Garnacho on for Neto, André Santos on for James.
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65 min: So Kane, as it stands, has 10 goals in six games this season, with a bit more of this one to go.
Alejandro Garnacho is going to come on for Chelsea, it looks like, while Leon Goretzka is on for Bayern, in place of Pavlovic.
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Goal! 63 min: Bayern Munich 3-1 Chelsea (Kane)
Horrible one for Chelsea, who try to play out from the back. Gusto loses it under pressure with a very poor first touch. The ball squirts to Kane, with the Chelsea defence nowhere, and the England captain slides a brilliant finish inside the far post.
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61 min: This second half has been less frantic than the first but there is still lots going on. You’d have to say that Kim’s introduction has bolstered Bayern defensively and Chelsea aren’t getting so much joy running at the home defence.
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59 min: Sensational save by Sanchez! Kane cuts back for Olise, who has to score. He doesn’t direct the shot quite well enough, though, and gives Sanchez a chance to make a brilliant low save, diving to his right across the goal. Could that lead to Chelsea getting a result here?
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57 min: Laimer and Kane link and it’s a huge chance for Kane! Laimer has burst from halfway, Kane makes a perceptive overlapping run, and is slid in cleverly by his teammate. Sanchez’s positioning is good, though: he makes himself big and comes off his line to block a low shot from the England captain. Kane remonstrates with himself for not creating a two-goal cushion. That does illustrate how dangerous Kane is when he has direct runners coming past him, as opposed to the stodge-fest he is often engaged with for England.
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55 min: Chelsea’s Caicedo is putting in a good shift, he gets his foot on it in midfield, and plays a searching pass forward which Bayern’s defence does well to cut out.
Diaz then has a sniff for the hosts, cutting in on his right foot, and sliding a shot straight at Sanchez from an angle.
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52 min: A nice bit of interplay from Chelsea’s tricky forward line creates a chance for James to shoot from distance. It’s a bit of a scuffed effort from the Blues captain, who is playing in midfield tonight, and it’s easily saved.
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50 min: Stanisic is going to come off, it seems. It was a heavy landing after he jumped with Chalobah, not that the Chelsea player did anything wrong. And there it is: the Frenchman Sacha Boey comes on, Stanisic off.
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48 min: Gusto made a raid on the right early doors, chasing a long ball for Chelsea, but was offside. Now Bayern’s Stanisic has gone down, looking in some pain, after falling awkwardly after an aerial challenge with Chalobah around halfway.
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Second half kick-off!
One change for Bayern: Tah, who had been booked, replaced by Kim.
“Kim is a little bit tighter as a defender, if I may say,” observes Hoddle on commentary.
Will we see Nicolas Jackson soon?
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Champions League-related half-time reading:
Half time: Bayern Munich 2-1 Chelsea.
Helluva good half of football.
45 min + 1: Olise again makes a few inroads down the Bayern right, and wins yet another corner. Sanchez catches it, this time, and that’s that.
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45 min: More pressure from Bayern – Tah with a header at the far post – but he’s offside. Another excellent high line from Chelsea brings the assistant’s flag. We will have a minimum of two minutes added.
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44 min: Olise stands Cucurella up on the Bayern right. He wins a corner. One final chance before the break? Sanchez tips it clear – or does he try to catch it? Anyway it’s another corner over the other side, to be taken by Kimmich.
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42 min: A corner for Bayern is half-cleared by a Sanchez punch. Olise hits it first-time on the volley, from the edge of the box, and it bounces wide of the far post. Close …
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39 min: Now Bayern’s Gnabry curls a fine cross over from the right looking for Diaz. He tumbles over while going for it, under a challenge, but the referee waves away Bayern protests. This is a fine game of football. Adarabioyo then has to block a shot from Kane, who tries one from point-blank range at an angle.
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38 min: Laimer, suddenly, has a sight of goal for Bayern after a marauding run into the box and an excellent pass by Olise. He slides his shot, side-footed, to the far post and it drifts wide. Will this be 2-2 or 3-1 at half time? It looks like it has another goal in it before the oranges and tea.
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35 min: James, playing out of position in midfield, embarks on a strong diagonal run in the middle of the park. Chelsea remain full of energy. Gusto now powers to the edge of the box and slams a shot straight into a defender! Bayern don’t look comfortable with these Chelsea runners seemingly coming from everywhere. A marginal penalty is what separates the teams, but Chelsea look the more dangerous side again.
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34 min: Chelsea are back into this. Caicedo hits a shot well wide when there are better options. Maresca, who must have been close to seeing a red card such was his fury about something, seems to have settled down a bit, too. That goal by Palmer has got them right back in it when a cricket score was suddenly looming.
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33 min: In other news, Cucurella is being booed by the Bayern fans over a handball that wasn’t given at Euro 2024:
31 min: “Some players don’t know how to use space,” says Hoddle on commentary, of Palmer’s rich talents. “This kid does.
“He just lent him (Gusto) the ball, hoping he was going to give it back.”
Lovely stuff.
Goal! 28 min: Bayern Munich 2-1 Chelsea (Palmer)
What a sensational finish by Palmer. Caicedo releases him near the Chelsea penalty area. Palmer glides downfield, exchanges passes with Gusto on the edge of the box, and clips a ludicrously dead-eyed finish beyond Neuer and into the roof of the net. What a goal! Meanwhile, Maresca is furious about something, and is booked.
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Goal! 27 min: Bayern Munich 2-0 Chelsea (Kane penalty)
Kane, of course, slides the penalty efficiently into the corner, and Chelsea are staring down the barrel now.
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Penalty to Bayern!
Kane goes down under a challenge from Caicedo. The referee initially doesn’t give it. Then he does. Classic Kane trickery. Was it a foul? Not for me Clive.
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24 min: The good news for Chelsea is that, as stated, they were the better team before the goal. However, you sense Bayern will feel they’ve steadied the ship and can revert to type when it comes to home matches at the Allianz.
Goal! 20 min: Bayern Munich 1-0 Chelsea (Chalobah OG)
Wonderful work from Olise on the right, and it looks like an own-goal by Chalobah. After Bayern’s free-kick ricocheted off the ref, it was restarted with (I think) a drop ball. The former Crystal Palace forward was soon one-on-one with Pedro and he skinned him with ease. Then he put a low ball across the face of goal and Chalobah turned it into his own net with Dayot Upemecano lurking. Did Chelsea switch off a touch after that free-kick was retaken?
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19 min: Bayern suddenly have Chelsea where they want them, streaming forward and massing their ranks around the penalty area. Gnabry has a shot blocked, and again the defensive hunger from Chelsea is excellent. The hosts have a free-kick about 30 yards out. Kimmich tries to slide it diagonally but it hits the referee’s boot and it’s a drop ball.
17 min: Pedro is clattered by Tah as he tries to turn away from his marker. It’s a handy position for a free-kick, halfway inside the Bayern half, but they play it backwards. Neto makes a run on the left, chasing a ball from Cucurella, but Pedro is caught offside in the process.
14 min: Palmer turns superbly around halfway, using his skill and power. He lofts a good-looking ball for Neto on the left but it’s cut out. Bayern then win a free-kick for a handball at very close quarters, that is clearly accidental, and on commentary Glenn Hoddle insists the law is a nonsense – before Bayern take the set-piece.
Bayern take it short, Olise clips a cross to the far post, but Chelsea step up and several home players are offside when the cross comes over. Again, Chelsea look the better-coached side based on that little exchange.
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10 min: Bayern’s players look just slightly rattled by Chelsea’s high-tempo opening. Now they get a foot on it – Stanisic plays inside for Kane, who can’t control – then Gnabry makes a perky run on the left and hammers a shot wide from outside the area.
Chelsea come again, down the right, where they are getting a lot of joy against Tah and Stanisic. And yet again they attack down that side, winning a corner, that leads to a headed chance for Cucurella! The former Brighton man nods it wide. Chelsea are significantly the better team here after nearly a quarter of an hour.
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7 min: Huge chance for Chelsea! They slice Bayern open down the right with worrying ease from the hosts’ point of view. Palmer plays a typically astute low ball across to Fernandes, by the penalty spot, who should probably hit it first time, but chooses a touch and is then crowded out by his marker. I think a flag was up anyway. Then, at the other end, Kane has a header from a Diaz cross, but it’s a long way from goal, a quarter-chance at best.
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5 min: It’s been a bright start from Chelsea. They’ve been instructed to press the ball at every opportunity, and Bayern are not being allowed a chance to settle. The energy level from Maresca’s side is very good but can they keep this intensity up?
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2 min: Chelsea look keen to press straight away. Bayern move the ball out of defence, but Chelsea win it back, and the goalie Robert Sánchez drills an excellent long ball from the back into the path of an on-rushing João Pedro, on the right. He crosses, an awkward one bouncing towards the penalty spot, and it’s a big chance – but no one can get on the end of it. Chelsea appeal for a handball, too, but nothing doing.
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First half kick-off
Allez! Bayern get things started.
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Chelsea players huddle before the start. A big night for Maresca, his debut as a coach in the Champions League.
Bayern’s front four have 18 goals between them in this campaign, after just five games. Kane has eight of those. Are they going to get medieval on Chelsea here?
The teams are lined up on the pitch. Massive Bayern Munich flags are being waved all over the shop. João Pedro, leading the line for Chelsea this evening, points to the sky as he walks out of the tunnel looking ultra-focused.
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It is only two years since Eddie Howe attended his first Champions League match but now Newcastle’s manager is on a mission to disrupt Europe’s elite.
As Barcelona arrived on Tyneside on Wednesday Hansi Flick’s La Liga champions certainly displayed no sign of complacency. Indeed Flick warned of the “intensity” his players must be braced for at St James’ Park on Thursday night.
The beginning of the game is important, then. That said, the middle and the end are going to be equally crucial.
Less than 10 minutes until kick-off!
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Enzo Maresca speaks to TNT Sports. Is this a similar lineup and approach to the Club World Cup final win against Paris Saint-Germain?
“Levi [Colwill] is out. Tosin [Adarabioyo] will replace him,” Maresca says, comparing the lineups.
“Two different games, two different teams – we don’t expect from them what we expected from PSG.”
Is the first 10, 15 minutes important tonight, to quieten the crowd?
“It’s very important. The beginning of the game, the first 10 mins, 15 mins. But then 90mins, 100mins. But for sure, the beginning is very important tonight.
“They are a very good team. Like I said yesterday, the are one of the favourites to win the competition. At the same time, any team can have some weaknesses, and we will try to exploit them.”
Is the pressure on Bayern?
“No, I feel pressure. As a Chelsea player of manager, you have a duty to win all the games. Yeah, we’re going to try and win the game.”
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Formations-wise, both sides may line up in a 4-2-3-1. As they mentioned in punditry, that Chelsea forward lineup is pretty flexible, though.
Just think, if we’d not had a solid 90 minutes to build up on this blog, we might never have known that Felix Magath played chess against Garry Kasparov in 1985.
“Fully expecting us (Chelsea) to get tanked this evening by a very strong Bayern side,” emails Matt. “Olise is a superb player and feels like one that got away (anyone would think the club is only interested in signing players with whom the sporting directors have longstanding historical relationships, though who knows why that might be the case…).
“I’d feel a lot happier had we kept Jackson rather than having [Marc] Guiu on the bench, who has looked like a Vanarama player whenever I have seen him play. 3-0 to the Germans, if we’re lucky.”
Thanks for your email, Matt. Good luck.
Harry Kane has scored eight goals and has three assists in five matches for Bayern this season. That’s sensational! But maybe some of the opposition was not.
“We feel very good right now, it’s going to be a great game under the lights,” he said.
As Jacob mentions in that story, Mourinho would be back at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday 30 September for a Champions League tie, if he and Benfica agree a deal.
Benfica are closing in on the appointment of José Mourinho after sacking Bruno Lage in the wake of their defeat by Qarabag in the Champions League.
Mourinho is on the market after leaving Fenerbahce last month and is in advanced talks over a return to his former club, whom he briefly managed in 2000.
“Last season was disappointing,” Harry Kane said yesterday, of Bayern’s quarter-final exit against Inter. “It’s about building on that and hopefully we can go all the way.
“Being here at Bayern there is a big expectation around the Champions League. There is a lot of excitement, and we have a great game at the Allianz to try and get off to a good start.
“With Michael [Olise], the second year, I feel our relationship is getting stronger and stronger … Nico [Jackson] shows a lot of great attributes, if we can get the best out of him, he’ll be a great asset this year.”
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Liverpool are also in action this evening, and Simon Burnton is blogging their curtain-raiser against Atlético Madrid, right here:
Hargreaves just mentioned Felix Magath, the former manager, who was not happy when Bayern Munich lost to Chelsea in 2004/05. A couple of Wiki snippets here:
“Magath is the son of a Puerto Rican former soldier in the US Army stationed in Aschaffenburg … Magath is a chess enthusiast, an interest which he developed during the 1978 World Chess Championship, while he was bedridden due to hepatitis. In 1985, he played in a simultaneous exhibition against Garry Kasparov.”
Every day is a school day.
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Please do email me with your thoughts.
The TNT Sports pundits Cole and Owen Hargreaves, who played in the 2004/05 tie between these sides, are reminiscing about José Mourinho hiding in a laundry basket to give a team talk, due to a Uefa touchline ban.
“This is what it’s all about,” says pundit Joe Cole of tonight’s mouthwatering clash, which is a fair point.
Team news
Jackson is on the bench for Bayern, who are unchanged from the 5-0 win against Hamburg. Palmer starts for Chelsea, and is one of four changes made by Maresca: Marc Cucurella, Reece James and Malo Gusto also come into the side.
Michael Olise and Luis Díaz are a couple of other former Premier League players starting for Bayern ce soir.
Bayern Munich: Neuer, Laimer, Upamecano, Tah, Stanisic, Kimmich, Pavlovic, Olise, Gnabry, Diaz, Kane. Substitutes: Ulreich, Urbig, Kim, Goretzka, Jackson, Bischof, Boey, Kiala, Karl, Daiber.
Chelsea: Sanchez, Gusto, Adarabioyo, Chalobah, Cucurella, James, Caicedo, Palmer, Fernandez, Pedro Neto, Joao Pedro. Substitutes: Garnacho, Estevao, Buonanotte, Guiu, Acheampong, George, Fofana, Jorgensen, Bynoe-Gittens, Santos, Hato, Curd.
Referee: Jose Sanchez Martinez (Spa)
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You can enjoy the highlights of Chelsea’s 2012 triumph over on the uefa.com live blog.
In shameless self-promotion news, I wrote about Chelsea v Napoli in 2012 (their last-16 encounter on the way to the trophy) during lockdown:
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Reece James said Chelsea would make their Champions League return confident they were capable of competing with the best teams in the world.
Enzo Maresca’s young side are back at Europe’s top table after a two-year absence and face a stern test when they open the league phase by facing Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday. Yet James is not worried about Chelsea’s lack of experience and accepts that July’s triumph in the Club World Cup means they are contenders to become European champions.
“First of all, you know since last season, I always like to go game by game,’ the Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca revealed on Tuesday, in another jaw-dropping development. “You cannot think about the final or semi-final if you can’t win games in the group stage.
“We have the first one against a fantastic team, one of the three or four favourites in this competition, but we are going to try to do our job in the best way.
“I think Bayern Munich is a team that showed last year that they are very close and they can compete to win this competition. This is my view. I see them together with three or four more clubs as one of the favourites for this competition.”
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A trip to the Allianz Arena offers Chelsea fond memories of the greatest night in their history, a meeting with two what‑might‑have-beens and a swift reunion with a player desperate to prove they were wrong to let him go.
Perhaps Enzo Maresca will be feeling nervous if his team have to face Nicolas Jackson when they open their Champions League campaign against Bayern Munich on Wednesday night. There are plenty of examples of loanees coming back to haunt their parent club in the tournament and Jackson will not be short of motivation if he features against Chelsea less than a month since he left on loan.
What’s the vibe on the old team news? Well, Cole Palmer is expected to slot into Chelsea’s starting lineup after a groin injury, which is nice for Blues fans and neutrals alike, because he is well good at playing football.
Bayern remain without long-term absentees Alphonso Davies (cruciate ligament), Hiroki Ito (metatarsal fracture) and Jamal Musiala (dislocated ankle and fractured fibula). Raphaël Guerreiro was injured in the 5-0 win against Hamburg on Saturday, and is ruled out, although Kompany said his stomach muscle injury is “not serious” and he might be back for Hoffenheim on Saturday. Also nice.
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“We want to win the Champions League, everyone’s 100 per cent up for this competition,” revealed the Bayern Munich manager Vincent Kompany on Tuesday, in a quite astonishing development.
“We’ve developed momentum,” Kompany added. “We’ve fulfilled all the to-dos. We’re looking forward to a Champions League night at the Allianz Arena. That’s always special.”
Preamble
“It’s the greatest night in Chelsea’s history,” commentator Clive Tydesley memorably said as Didier Drogba belted the Champions League-winning penalty past Manuel Neuer in 2012. “These are the moments Chelsea will always cherish and never forget,” wrote Daniel Taylor. There has been plenty of water under the bridge since that magical night in Munich, but that remains indubitably true.
Chelsea won it again in 2021 under Thomas Tuchel, of course, while as far as these opponents are concerned, they were thrashed 7-1 on aggregate in a last-16 tie back in 2019/20. The six previous matches between the clubs have produced four goals each on average – the Blues edged through 7-6 on aggregate in a quarter-final in 2004/05 – so more of the same, please.
The most interesting sub-plot tonight is the possible involvement of the forward Nicolas Jackson, who forced through a loan move to Bavaria from Chelsea during the summer transfer window, and by the admission of the visiting players knows “exactly the way we approach games”.
The mighty Bayern have a perfect five wins out of five this season while Chelsea are not exactly in a bad moment, and are unbeaten in five after their summer Club World Cup glory. It’s chance for both to make a statement of some sort, and it might even be fun!
Kick-off: 8pm UK time.
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