Reaction, ratings and analysis
Jacob Steinberg was at Stamford Bridge this evening. Here’s his take on a painful lesson for Chelsea, hot off the press. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
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Frank’s verdict. “They outclassed us in pretty much every department, so it was quite sobering. Am I surprised? I think we could have done more, certainly. I’m disappointed we couldn’t have done better, but it was a real reality check for everyone in the dressing room. We have to take one on the chin, look at ourselves and look at the levels we want to attain, and that we have attained in the past. Our choice of pass in the final third has to improve. Our players will look at who they were up against, and see the levels we want to attain. We’ll always play with pride, and you should never say the door is closed. I’m more concerned about the bigger picture, there’s a lot to be done.”
Bayern hero Serge Gnabry, formerly of Arsenal, speaks. “This result gives us loads of confidence, but we need to be prepared for the second leg. We have a good advantage. I have a lot of friends here in London, perhaps they give me a bit of power, and I always enjoy coming back. We know what happened with Liverpool and Barcelona last year, so we have to be careful, and go into the second leg with focus. We will try to win that one as well.”
Good luck picking the star man for Bayern tonight. Serge Gnabry scored twice, while Robert Lewandowski got one and set up two. Thomas Muller looks born again. Thiago controlled the midfield. Kingsley Coman was a constant threat. But perhaps best of all was 19-year-old Ghana-born Canadian Alphonso Davies, sharp in defence, borderline unplayable in attack during that second-half rout. A young man making his first serious statement in the biggest club competition there is. As for Chelsea ... all part of the learning process, let’s put it that way.
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FULL TIME: Chelsea 0-3 Bayern Munich
The referee puts Chelsea out of their misery. Frank Lampard’s side have shipped three away goals, and they’ll miss the suspended Jorginho and Marcos Alonso in the second leg. Bayern have one foot and four toes in the quarter finals.
90 min +3: Bayern ping it around on the edge of the Chelsea box but can’t find an opening. They’ve been streets ahead of the hosts in this second half.
90 min +2: Coutinho tries a curler from 30 yards. Nope.
90 min +1: A Bayern corner on the right. Goretzka’s first touch is a free header from eight yards. His effort would probably have gone in, but was blocked by Lewandowski of all people.
90 min: Thiago is replaced by Leon Goretzka. There will be four added minutes.
88 min: Mount dribbles with purpose down the left, reaches the byline, and only just fails to find Abraham in the middle. No consolation goal.
87 min: Davies scampers down the left yet again and finds Lewandowski on the edge of the box. Not for the first time tonight, a great chance is passed by as a Bayern striker can’t sort out his feet. They’ve earned the right to make a few mistakes, to be fair. Davies has been sensational, a star in the making.
85 min: The two-goal hero Serge Gnabry is replaced by Corentin Tolisso. Silence at Stamford Bridge, give or take a few celebratory chirps from the Bayern section.
RED CARD: Alonso (Chelsea)
84 min: Actually, not so lucky. The referee goes over to the VAR monitor, takes one look, and sends Alonso packing. This has been a disastrous second half for Chelsea.
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82 min: Alonso is booked for holding out his arm and poking it around Lewandowski’s head. That looked premeditated; Alonso’s a lucky boy.
81 min: Abraham drives down the middle and falls just inside the box. Chelsea claim a penalty in the half-hearted style. They’re not getting one. Boateng’s block tackle was perfectly timed. “This lad Alphonso Davies looks like the next Gareth Bale,” observes the very wise Gary Naylor. “Not sure he’ll be a full-back for long.”
79 min: Pedro zips down the inside-left, reaches the byline, and wheechs a poke-me-home ball through the six-yard box. Abraham is again millimetres away from prodding home. He’ll be cursing those nail clippers.
77 min: In the dugout, a wry smile momentarily threatens to play across Frank Lampard’s face, but misery wins the battle and a frown takes over. Arms crossed tight.
GOAL! Chelsea 0-3 Bayern Munich (Lewandowski 76)
Davies goes on another sizzling run down the left, skipping past Christensen’s desperate lunge with ease, and he’s away. This time his cross is fantastic, rolled across the face of goal. Lewandowski isn’t going to miss from six yards, and slams into the bottom right. That’s his 39th goal of the season, and his 11th in the Champions League alone. Throw in two assists, and he’s not having a bad night!
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74 min: Chelsea make their final switch, the captain Azpilicueta making way for Pedro. From the restart, Willian drops a shoulder to make space down the right, and curls a delicious low curler along the corridor of uncertainty. All it needs is a toenail to poke home, but Abraham must have trimmed his last night and his lunge can’t quite connect. That’s as good a cross as you’ll see. Such a shame nobody could convert.
72 min: Davies romps past Christensen, into acres down the left. He’s so fast. But with Lewandowski waiting in the middle, he crosses clumsily into the stand behind. A disappointing end to a blistering run.
71 min: James and Willian combine neatly down the right and earn a corner. Willian takes. Bayern clear it without too much drama. Chelsea haven’t worked Neuer at all in this second half.
69 min: It was nearly 0-3; now it’s nearly 1-2. Kimmich plays a suicidal pass across the face of his own box, allowing Mount to intercept. It’s a huge chance, but Mount blazes wildly over the bar. The small margins that could keep this tie in the balance, or put it to bed.
68 min: Thiago loops a pass down the right for Muller, who reaches the byline, sends Rudiger sliding off to the wrong fire, and dinks long for Coutinho. The sub tries to ram home a spectacular volley, level with the left-hand post, but gets it all wrong. The ball squirts across the face of goal and Chelsea hack clear.
66 min: Coman goes down clutching his hamstring. He won’t be able to continue. Philippe Coutinho comes on in his place.
64 min: You have seen those given, though. Christensen’s elbow was poking out in the chicken-dance style. Proximity was probably an issue. Either way, Chelsea escape.
63 min: From the corner, Thiago takes a snap shot from six yards. It hits Christensen’s elbow. The referee considers blowing up for a penalty, but decides against it. VAR has a check, and there’s nothing doing.
62 min: Gnabry twists and turns down the inside-left channel. Upon entering the box he takes a whack at goal. He really wants his hat-trick. The shot’s deflected over for a corner.
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61 min: Chelsea mix it up. They have to. No choice. Something has to happen. Willian and Tammy Abraham come on for Olivier Giroud and Ross Barkley.
59 min: Muller jigs down the right, reaches the byline, and tugs back for Gnabry, who really should complete a quickfire hat-trick by battering home from the penalty spot. But he lashes wildly over. Bayern have suddenly switched into Spurs Mode.
58 min: Chelsea are in danger of falling to bits. Coman romps down the right and crosses for Lewandowski, who tries to score with a scorpion kick. He doesn’t connect, but he wasn’t far off. Plenty of confidence in the Bayern ranks now. Chelsea look stunned.
56 min: Chelsea are all over the place. Davies picks up possession deep, and makes it all the way down the left wing. He hooks into the middle. Lewandowski can’t quite sort his feet out on the edge of the box, and Caballero gathers. So close to a third.
GOAL! Chelsea 0-2 Bayern Munich (Gnabry 54)
Chelsea are in deep trouble after Bayern score a second away goal in just over three minutes. Neuer launches long down the left. Gnabry plays a simple mid-range one-two down the flank with Lewandowski, enters the box and strokes a perfect shot across Caballero and into the bottom right. Gnabry sure likes London.
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53 min: Azpilicueta slipped as Gnabry made the killer pass. Not sure whether it made any difference. But it can’t have helped.
GOAL! Chelsea 0-1 Bayern Munich (Gnabry 51)
Bayern suddenly burst forward en masse. Gnabry plays a cute ball round the corner to release Lewandowski into the box on the left. He shapes to shoot from an angle, but then snaps a low pass across the face of goal for Gnabry, who has kept running and slams the ball home. What a lovely goal. What a costly 60 seconds for Chelsea.
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50 min: Kimmich concedes a garden variety foul in the midfield on Kovacic. Jorginho is livid, for some reason, and gets right up in the referee’s grille. He’s booked for stupidity, and will miss the second leg. Kimmich also goes in the book.
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48 min: Other than that, the start to the second half has been scrappy. Then all of a sudden, Mount breaks down the right. Davies nearly gets back to rob him of possession, but Mount gets a shot away. Neuer parries. Barkley takes a shot from the rebound. Neuer parries again. And then the flag goes up for offside, Mount having been well off at the start of the whole move.
46 min: Nearly a perfect start to the half for Chelsea, as Jorginho’s backflick nearly sends Giroud clear down the middle. Alaba was on point to intercept and clear for Bayern.
Chelsea get the second half underway. Neither team has made a change during the break.
Half-time entertainment. David Hytner’s preview of Pep Guardiola’s latest run-in with Real Madrid.
HALF TIME: Chelsea 0-0 Bayern Munich
The corner’s easily cleared. Thiago then brings down Barkley, who was threatening to break. A yellow card for the Bayern midfielder, and that’s the end of the first half. Bayern have dominated territory and possession, and hit the bar. But Chelsea have come very close to scoring on a couple of occasions. Not a classic, but poised nicely enough. Don’t go anywhere!
45 min: Gnabry toils hard down the left, stripping Azpilicueta of possession, driving forward, and winning a corner. It’ll be taken during one added minute of time.
43 min: Alonso slides through Coman, getting ball but also a piece of the man. A free kick out on the right. Bayern load the box. Kimmich takes, and swings in dangerously. Azpilicueta does well to win a header, and Caballero springs up to claim. Chelsea go straight up the other end, Alonso trying to repeat his heroics of the Tottenham game with a low diagonal screamer towards the bottom right. Neuer does extremely well to parry, and the corner that results leads to nothing.
41 min: Some scrappy nonsense in the midfield.
39 min: A free kick for Chelsea out on the left, a reward for Mount losing control of his own feet and eventually tripping himself up. Probably for the best that James’ delivery beats everyone in the box and bounces harmlessly out for a goal kick.
37 min: James slips a ball in from the right for Barkley, who wants to spin clear on the edge of the box but can’t shake off Alaba. Chelsea have done well to work their way back into this match after being on the back foot for a while.
35 min: And now it’s Bayern who go close, Lewandowski crossing from the left, Muller ghosting in to flick an outrageous back-header towards the top left. Caballero is beaten, but the ball crashes off the crossbar. Muller tries to do something with the rebound but he’s off balance and Chelsea are able to clear.
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34 min: A poor clearance by Neuer is pounced on by Jorginho. The ball’s slipped left to Mount, who fires a ball across the face of goal. Giroud is an inch away from poking home, shades of Gazza at Euro 96. After all that Bayern pressure, it was Chelsea who nearly took the lead.
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32 min: More last-ditch stuff as Bayern sweep forward through Lewandowski, Muller and Coman. It’s a diagonal left-to-right move that nearly puts Coman through on goal. But just as he shapes to shoot, Alonso pops up to block and usher him out for a goal kick. That’s fine defending.
30 min: Chelsea are beginning to give up half-chances at a worrying rate. Again Lewandowski nearly gets a shot away inside the box; again Caballero is the hero with another on-point interception. Chelsea can’t keep going like this.
29 min: Caballero took a whack making that save, so there’s a brief pause as he receives treatment. He’s good to go again. Bayern’s corner is a waste of time, but Muller is soon coming at Chelsea again down the left, and curls a fierce shot inches wide of the bottom right. Caballero, at full stretch, might have been in trouble had that been on target.
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27 min: Another great save by Cabellero, who saves again at Lewandowski’s feet, the big striker having been sent clear down the middle by a clever Muller pass. The ball clanks out for a corner on the left.
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26 min: Gnabry slips a cute pass down the inside left to release Lewandowski into the box. Caballero is wise to the plan and is quickly off his line to snaffle at the striker’s feet. That was superb goalkeeping, not least because a mistimed challenge could have led to a penalty kick.
25 min: Muller and Gnabry combine at speed down the left. There are red shirts lurking in the penalty area, so Chelsea are very grateful to Christensen, wide awake this time, and able to hack Gnabry’s cross away from danger.
24 min: Some space for Barkley out on the left. He enters the box and thinks about a curler towards the top right. Instead he opts for an outswinging cross that doesn’t find Giroud at the far post.
23 min: A really poor pass by Christensen gifts Coman possession out on the right. Rudiger does very well to snuff out the sudden danger. Focus, remember, like your manager said.
22 min: Bayern reestablish their control with a spot of keep-ball in the middle of the park. It’s not quite taken off, this match. Yet.
20 min: Kovacic sends a big diagonal towards James on the right. James whips in low, forcing Alaba to bundle out for a corner, from which Giroud heads weakly into Neuer’s arms. An uncharacteristically powerless header by Giroud, who was looking for the top right but couldn’t get enough purchase. But this is better from Chelsea.
18 min: Finally something for the home faithful to scream about. Kovacic slides a gorgeous pass down the inside right to release Mount. For a second, it looks as though he’ll tear clear towards the box, but Davies recovers his position with lightning speed. Mount is panicked into a miscontrol, and Davies shepherds the ball out for a goal kick. What defending by the 19-year-old wing back.
16 min: Gnabry flicks on the corner, but the ball harmlessly bounces out of play to the right of goal. The home crowd fall quiet again with worry. Bayern are finding their range now, but Chelsea have yet to get going.
15 min: Stamford Bridge has fallen pretty quiet as Bayern dominate. Thiago sprays a long ball down the inside left. Lewandowski romps into the box and tries to power a shot past Caballero. The ball whacks the keeper in the chest and pings out for a corner. That generated a bit of much-needed noise.
13 min: Coman and Muller combine again, this time down the right. Muller pulls a ball back for Pavard, who can’t work room for a cross and is forced to turn tail. Bayern keep hold of possession, though, patiently passing it around the back. They’ve had the lion’s share so far.
11 min: Coman and Muller exchange a one-two in the centre circle, and suddenly Coman is away down the inside-right channel. Simple as that. Chelsea torn apart with ease. Coman should hit the target at the very least, but upon entering the box, only manages to flutter the side netting. A real chance to grab a precious away goal.
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10 min: Plenty of space for Pavard out on the right. He crosses long with the hope of finding Lewandowski at the far post. Too long. “The Bayern captain should give Azpilicueta the Bayern-Tottenham pennant to establish a marker of intent and set zee bantz rolling,” suggests Ian Copestake.
9 min: Coman goes scampering after a long ball down the right but, with Chelsea a little light at the back, can’t keep it in. Goal kick. Chelsea go up the other end, Mount dribbling in from the right before scuffing a shot wide right. Neither team are quite on it yet.
7 min: Azpilicueta takes a long throw from the right. The ball falls to Mount, on the edge of the Bayern box. He chests down, leans back, and sends a wild effort deep into the stand behind.
5 min: Azpilicueta nearly shanks a simple pass out of play, then gifts the ball to Davies in the midfield. Chelsea look a little bit nervous during these opening exchanges.
3 min: Mount stands on Davies’ foot and is slightly fortunate to escape an early booking. He’d have probably seen yellow for that later in the game. Everyone gets one.
2 min: Bayern quickly establish a modicum of control. They probe this way and that. Chelsea keep their shape, but Bayern were moving the ball around swiftly enough to cause a couple of murmurs of anxiety in the home crowd.
And we’re off! Bayern get the first half underway. A huge roar, with both sets of plans giving it plenty. Chelsea come straight at the visitors, Kovacic romping down the left before being forced to turn back. Then Bayern go up the other end, Muller attempting to thread a shot into the bottom left from 20 yards. Caballero is behind it all the way. Quite the eventful first 40 seconds!
The teams are out! A fine Champions League atmosphere at Stamford Bridge. A whiff of sulphur in the air, on account of a pre-match rooftop firework display half the stadium wouldn’t have been able to see. Chelsea are in their famous blue, while Bayern sport first-choice red. We’ll be off in a minute!
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A pre-match chat with Frank Lampard. “We have to be at our best,” he tells BT Sport. “Our focus from minute one has to be spot on. Our belief in ourselves, and what we can do. And our work ethic. We have to up that level even more. We might be seen as the underdogs, but let’s try to show what we can do. People think managers want to rotate and show how clever we are, but you actually want some continuity so we go again. The players need to have huge focus.”
Pennant watch. Here’s what Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta will be handing over to his opposite number Manuel Neuer during the pre-match niceties.
No pictures from the Bayern changing room. But chances are Chelsea will be copping something that doesn’t look a million miles away from the trinket they gave to Spurs earlier in the season.
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Chelsea name the same XI sent out to beat Tottenham at the weekend. And there’s only one change on the bench, with Pedro taking Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s seat.
Bayern make four changes to the team that scraped past Paderborn 3-2 in the Bundesliga on Friday evening. Benjamin Pavard, Jerome Boateng, Kingsley Coman and Thomas Muller take the places of Alvaro Odriozola, Lucas Hernandez, Corentin Tolisso and Philippe Coutinho.
The teams
Chelsea: Caballero, Azpilicueta, Christensen, Rudiger, James, Jorginho, Kovacic, Alonso, Mount, Barkley, Giroud.
Subs: Arrizabalaga, Abraham, Willian, Pedro, Zouma, Emerson Palmieri, Gilmour.
Bayern Munich: Neuer, Pavard, Boateng, Alaba, Davies, Kimmich, Thiago, Gnabry, Muller, Coman, Lewandowski.
Subs: Odriozola, Coutinho, Goretzka, Lucas, Tolisso, Ulreich, Zirkzee.
Referee: Clement Turpin (France).
Preamble
Welcome to a repeat of the 2012 Champions League final. Anybody fancy reliving the greatest night in the history of Chelsea Football Club, minute by minute, as it happened? Of course you do!
Chelsea weren’t the bookies’ favourites that night in Munich. And yet they did it. That bald fact should give Frank Lampard’s team much-needed succour as they go into battle tonight ... and they may need it, because once again Bayern are considered the more likely, for various reasons. Consider: Chelsea haven’t won any of their last eight knockout ties in this competition; they’ve only tasted Champions League victory at Stamford Bridge once in their last six; Bayern won all six of their group matches this season to an aggregate score of 24-5; Robert Lewandowski is this season’s leading Champions League scorer with ten; and the last time in-form Bayern came to town, they whistled seven goals past Spurs. Gulp! (x5)
But here’s more hope for Chelsea: they don’t half enjoy playing teams from Germany. They beat Stuttgart in the 1998 Cup Winners’ Cup final, knocked the same team out in the 2004 Champions League round of 16, saw off Eintracht Frankfurt in the semis of last year’s Europa League, put Bayern out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage in 2005, and of course there’s that aforementioned final in 2012. Their only defeat against German opposition in winner-takes-all competition was a defeat on penalties in the 2013 Super Cup. Bayern will have reasons of their own to be extremely wary.
They were also, let us not forget, knocked out at this stage last year by an English team. So can Chelsea do what Liverpool did 12 months ago? Or will Bayern continue on their quest to reach a first final in seven years? After tonight’s action, we’ll be halfway to finding out the answers. It’s on!
Kick off: 8pm GMT.
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