Rio Ferdinand believes that Frank Lampard’s young Chelsea team will learn a lot from their Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich.
The Blues suffered a 3-0 loss at Stamford Bridge in the first leg of their round of 16 tie against the Bundesliga champions, with ex-Arsenal attacker Serge Gnabry scoring twice before Robert Lewandowski added a third.
Chelsea ended the game with 10 men after Marcos Alonso was sent off in the second half, and now they must earn an extraordinary result at the Allianz Arena next month to stand any chance of progression into the quarter-finals.
Whilst it was a disappointing night for Chelsea, Ferdinand feels that Lampard's side, that included three academy graduates in the starting 11, will learn from tonight's result.
"What I think will be great and telling from this performance today is that these players, who have been hyped up and rightly so this season; they would have seen what it is like to see top level players close up," Ferdinand told BT Sport.
"This is the level above that they have got to get to. They should sit and say: 'Right, there is more hard work to be done, I'm way off getting to that level of performing like this consistently and so we have got to raise our game on a day to basis in training.'
"I have been to Cobham this week and seen the way they have trained and the way they are working.
"Yes, they are working very hard but there is always a next level to get to and you have got to have the desire to work towards that but sometimes, you have got to see it and that is a great learning curve for some of them."
However, whilst Chelsea’s chances of a Champions League progression this season now seem highly unlikely, Ferdinand says the Blues should not get too down about the result.
The former Manchester United star has been impressed with the Blues this season and believes that Bayern's quality should not ruin the hard work they have put in this season.
"But don't be disheartened, they can't be disheartened," Ferdinand added.
"They can't let this performance ruin all of the good work they have done this season.
"They are in fourth position in the league, they have beaten Spurs, a team that were contending for the fourth place position and they have lost against a top side with good players. "
