Former Bayern Munich midfielder Owen Hargreaves has warned Chelsea they’ll have to be “close to perfect” to beat the German champions, but believes they are capable.
The Blues will face Bayern in the last-16 of the Champions League after being drawn against the German champions for the first knockout stage.
Having secured their qualification in their final group stage game, Frank Lampard’s side will host Bayern in the first leg in February before heading to the Allianz Arena a week later.
Hans-Dieter Flick’s side are one of the favourites to win the Champions League this season, having breezed through their group in order to qualify for the knockout stages.
Bayern have won all six of their European games so far, including a 7-2 win over Tottenham in North London, and they also boast the competition’s top scorer in Robert Lewandowski, who has 10 goals so far.
And, speaking to BT Sport, Hargreaves feels Chelsea will have to be at their best if they’re to make it through to the quarter-finals.
"I think they can do it, I think they can beat Bayern, but they have to be close to perfect," Hargreaves said.
"I saw his (Lampard’s) midfield three go to the Etihad and they controlled the game. They had Jorginho in there, they had [N’Golo] Kante and [Mateo] Kovacic, that’s really good.
"If Tammy [Abraham]’s scoring goals, and defensively they sort themselves out, then I think they can.
"I can see [Fikayo] Tomori doing a really good job against Lewandowski, he’s a super athlete, he’s super quick, but they’ve got to be almost close to perfect. If they’re not, then they’ll get punished.
"Bayern have destroyed some teams this season in the Champions League, and Frank obviously needs a good game plan for those specific two games."
