FRANK: WE WERE OUTCLASSED

CHELSEA...0 BAYERN MUNICH...3

FRANK LAMPARD admitted Chelsea’s Champions League drubbing by Bayern Munich was ‘a harsh lesson of reality’ for his players. Chelsea’s European hopes hang by a thread after they were thumped 3-0 in the first leg at Stamford Bridge last night. The last-16 loss is their heaviest ever margin of defeat in a home European game. ‘That’s football at this level,’ Lampard said. ‘The levels of Bayern Munich were fantastic. It was a harsh lesson of reality for the players. If you go for 90 minutes you have to show more than we showed.’ The Chelsea manager insisted ‘you should never say the door is closed’ ahead of the second leg in Germany next month, but he added: ‘They outclassed us in pretty much every department, so it was quite sobering.’ A

three-minute brace from Serge Gnabry early in the second half saw Bayern take control before Robert Lewandowski scored their third. Chelsea’s evening went from bad to worse after Marcos Alonso was sent off and Jorginho received a needless yellow card which rules him out of the second leg. Lampard said: ‘The players need to use this to a positive effect. It might not feel like that this evening but they need to understand the levels in the Champions League when you reach the knockout stages.’ Former Arsenal forward Gnabry scored four goals at Tottenham in the group stages and cashed in again on his latest trip to London. ‘I have a lot of friends here,’ he told BT. ‘A lot of them were in the stands tonight and they were giving me good power.’

Bayern boss Hans-Dieter Flick said: ‘Of course it’s a really good result. The team performed exactly as we had planned.’ Asked whether he is surprised Gnabry was allowed to leave English football, Flick replied: ‘No, I am happy!’ Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham, who came off the bench in the second half, appeared to limp away from his post-match warm-down but Lampard was unaware of any issue.