Chelsea got their Champions League campaign off to a losing start at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday.
Having gone 2-0 down just before the half-hour mark, Maresca’s side clawed one back through the returning Cole Palmer but a second from Harry Kane on 63 minutes ultimately sealed the victory for Bayern Munich.
Here, Daily Mail Sport takes a look at the main talking points from the fixture in Bavaria.
Errors cost the Blues
Bayern Munich scored via an own goal from Trevoh Chalobah, a penalty after a clumsy challenge by Moises Caicedo, and a gift from Malo Gusto. All were avoidable. There were simply too many self-inflicted errors made by Enzo Maresca’s side for them to win at the Allianz Arena.
That can only have frustrated the hell out of Maresca as he turned to a familiar big-game playbook to try to secure this scalp, naming the same line-up that faced Paris Saint-Germain in the Club World Cup final, minus the injured Levi Colwill.
The tactical plan were practically copy and pasted from when they were crowned world champions in the United States.
Bayern Munich beat Chelsea 3-1 on Wednesday evening at the Allianz Arena
There were too many self-inflicted errors from Enzo Maresca’s side on a difficult night
That included Cole Palmer being used on the wing but as was the case versus PSG, he routinely stepped inside while Gusto overlapped on his right-hand side. It was their one-two which saw Palmer score beyond Manuel Neuer on his 100th appearance for Chelsea.
While these tactics worked perfectly against PSG, it did not get them the win here, with Chelsea doing themselves no favours at crucial moments.
Olise on-song
Clearly, Palmer belongs on this big stage, but so does Michael Olise.
Chelsea tried to sign Olise from Crystal Palace – twice in separate windows – and certainly they would be a better side had they managed to do so.
The Blues could hardly get a tackle in on the winger who, at 23, is already world class. His cross into the six-yard box from the right-hand side was one of those where no Blues defenders dared try to touch it. Marc Cucurella left it. Tosin Adarabioyo left it. But the ball bounced off Trevoh Chalobah and, unfortunately for him, ended up in the back of his own goal for 1-0.
Olise forced that situation. As Bayern Munich and England striker Harry Kane told us at his press conference on Tuesday: ‘I’m glad Michael is with us and not with them.’
The Blues tried to sign Michael Olise in consecutive windows during his days at Crystal Palace
A midfield including him and Cole Palmer – who scored tonight – would have been an exciting one
Maresca’s outburst
Maresca is not usually one for getting so animated on the touchline but then with the pressure of the Champions League came heightened emotions.
The Blues boss was even booked by our Spanish referee Jose Maria Sanchez, who wound him up beyond belief, including when Jonathan Tah felled Joao Pedro off the ball and only received a yellow card.
A lesson learned
Before kick-off, Chelsea’s players popped out of the changing room to take a look at the Allianz Arena, several taking pictures on their mobile phones.
This was a big occasion for them. Five members of the Blues’ line-up were making their Champions League debuts, after all, in Robert Sanchez, Gusto, Caicedo, Pedro Neto and Joao Pedro.
If nothing else, they will have learned a great deal from this experience as the visitors played some nice football in periods at the Allianz Arena.
Chelsea’s Champions League debutants will learn lessons from their night at the Allianz
Blues keeper Robert Sanchez has proved his doubters wrong so far this term
Sanchez impressive
Many Chelsea supporters thought their club’s decision makers were mad not to sign a new goalkeeper in the summer but credit where it is due, because Sanchez has kept his mistakes to a minimum thus far.
He made several nice saves here, including a sensational stop to deny Olise, while he also played a few good passes as he routinely looked long into the channels.
There will come a time when Sanchez commits an error – such is life as a goalkeeper – but he has not yet invited any noise upon himself. If anything, he is winning over a few of his doubters, and was not the reason why Chelsea lost here.
