The caretaker manager has restored the famous Bayern press, and they relentlessly hunted down Frank Lampard’s side
Bayern Munich may not have all the answers, but they know all the right questions. They can finish you in more ways than almost any other team on the planet. You play through the press and they smother you with possession. You lock the front gate and they find a way around the side. You sit deep and they weave their dainty triangles around you. You commit high and they make you turn and run. Thwart their slick passing game for one half, and they simply take you to pieces in the next.
This, essentially, is what happened to
Chelsea here: after maintaining a stony silence for 50 minutes in the face of a relentless interrogation, they eventually squealed like piglets. If Serge Gnabry’s two goals in three minutes did not quite settle matters, Robert Lewandowski’s third goal probably did, even if Marcos Alonso’s late red card and consequent suspension offered Chelsea a glimmer of hope going into the second leg.