Frank Lampard admitted his side had been taught a ‘harsh lesson’ as they were beaten 3-0 by Bayern Munich in a one-sided Champions League last-16 tie at Stamford Bridge.
Serge Gnabry scored two goals in four minutes to make things difficult for the Blues in the second leg before Robert Lewandowski added a third to put a final coffin in the Champions League dream of the hosts.
“That’s football at this level,” admitted the Chelsea manager. “The levels of Bayern Munich were fantastic, they are a really strong team and I was aware of that. Unless we were to get everything right and bang on then it was going to be a really tough night.
“We didn’t get everything bang on, we weren’t confident on the ball and that was my biggest disappointment. That can happen sometimes with an intense atmosphere when all eyes are on, so it was a harsh lesson, a reality for the players of the levels we want to get to.
“This is Champions League football and we as a club haven’t been fighting in the knockout stages, getting through to the back end of it, for some years and this is the reality of what it takes.
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“Technically, our defending wasn’t always great but we stayed in the game and created some chances. If you go for 90 minutes you have to show more than we showed and the first goal had a bit of a slip, but the clinical nature with the way they finished it showed if you give a team of that quality chances then they will finish it. That’s what I said last night and it came true tonight.
“When you have an eye-opener like tonight, the only answer young or old is to look at it and go ‘I’m not going to look at any part of it apart from myself. Who was I against, who was my direct competitor, how did I play against them?”
“We have to go and play with pride and not consider the scoreline too much in terms of how we approach the game,” he added. “We know we’re 3-0 down going away to Munich.
“It’s pretty clear that we are in a very bad position going into the second leg. It’s a show of character. That’s all we can do.” Lampard concluded
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