POWER SERGE SHOCKS FRANK
Gnabry double destroys Chelsea
Failing to make the grade at arsenal must really have hurt Serge gnabry. He’s been taking it out on the capital’s football clubs ever since.
To go with his four at Tottenham in the group stage, two more here to all but end this tie as a contest. gnabry has scored one more Champions league goal in london this season than Harry Kane, three more than Son Heung-min and five more than Tammy abraham.
His Bayern Munich team were worth every inch of their victory, too. They dominated Chelsea from start to finish — literally, given their first chance came after 40 seconds — and made the second leg a formality.
if it hadn’t been for Willy Cabellero, Chelsea might as well have shaken hands and not even bothered with the return.
We have seen three-goal first-leg deficits overturned in this competition — and recently, too. There was nothing here to suggest another liverpool against Barcelona, however. liverpool didn’t play badly at nou Camp. They had their moments. Chelsea didn’t.
They kept it goalless for the first 45 minutes, which would have pleased Frank lampard, but Munich were the dominant force.
at no time did Chelsea look like challenging Munich’s command of the tie and, worse, they will be without both first-choice central midfielders in germany, after Jorginho picked up a yellow card to keep him out of the return leg.
That it was for arguing with referee Clement Turpin — he actually laid hands on him so could have been shown a red — makes it quite the most stupid booking as well as a damaging one. With n’golo Kante already out through injury, what was he thinking?
it is also worth noting that the score when he collected his booking was 0-0. it can be argued that Munich were well on top but at the time Chelsea were holding them, had created decent chances either side of half-time and were enjoying arguably their best spell. Jorginho’s confrontation with the official, demanding action against Joshua Kimmich for a foul on Mateo Kovacic, broke their rhythm and confidence seemed to leave Chelsea after this setback.
Munich scored their first goal from the next attack, their second within three minutes and ran away with it when Robert lewandowski scored a third.
So gnabry did it again. Hard to believe this is a player who could not make West Brom’s team when arsenal sent him there on loan. it’s fair to presume he wasn’t playing like this, though.
Both goals were lovely and followed a pattern, gnabry’s understanding with lewandowski quite exceptional.
For the first, he fed lewandowski who took the ball slightly wide of centre to the left, then cut it back perfectly. gnabry was by then arriving late and finished low past Caballero. lampard would have appreciated the execution, if not the outcome. it was the sort of goal he used to score.
another interchange of passes with lewandowski sparked the second, although this time gnabry had more to do — streaking away and finishing with a magnificent shot, low across Caballero.
Chelsea were now in serious jeopardy. Journey’s end came in the 76th minute after a brilliant run by outstanding teenage left back alphonso Davies which left andreas Christensen on the turf. To seal the deal, Davies gave lewandowski the simplest of tap- ins — his 39th goal in 33 matches for Bayern this season and his 11th from six in the Champions league.
What a goalscorer he is and what a worker, too. He was still battling for the second ball late in the game when Marcos alonso smacked him with a raised arm in a tussle. Turpin booked alonso, but got a whisper to suggest he might want to have a second look. He did just that, reviewed the incident on a pitchside monitor, came back and upgraded yellow to red.
looking at the way he set his team up — five at the back, another bank of four in midfield — lampard would clearly have
settled for containing Munich and hitting them on the break.
It never seemed possible. Munich had several good chances before scoring. They hit the bar and Caballero made a series of excellent saves. He looks less like a manager’s motivational riposte to Kepa Arrizabalaga every week.
Munich are a different team under coach Hans-Dieter Flick — more aggressive, more like their old selves — and had no qualms taking the game to Chelsea.
There were only 40 seconds gone when Thomas Muller had a strike from the edge of the area that flew just wide of Caballero’s far post. It was a statement of intent that Munich and Muller in particular had no trouble backing up.
In the 11th minute, the pace of Kingsley Coman served as another warning of Munich’s potential, playing a delightful one-two with Muller that took the central rump of the Chelsea team out of the game before trying his luck at Caballero’s near post.
Munich are not afraid to go direct, either, and a ball over the top put Lewandowski through, one on one, only for the striker to be thwarted by Caballero.
It was a similar story soon after when Muller played the pass of the match, leaving Lewandowski with only Caballero to beat once more. Again, the goalkeeper came out on top.
Muller hit a fine shot from 25 yards that flew just wide, before being responsible for the miss of the match. Gnabry hit a magnificent cross from the left and Muller got in front of Antonio Rudiger but hit the bar with a free header.
The home team’s chances were sorely limited by comparison.
A well worked move after 34 minutes ended with Chelsea’s best player, Kovacic, finding Mason Mount, whose shot across the face of goal eluded Olivier Giroud by inches.
Kovacic was also the architect shortly before half-time, slipping Azpilicueta through on the run — a helpful sliver of light opening up in Bayern’s massed ranks, enough to get a shot off.
Neuer would have seen it late but lived up to his reputation as one of the world’s best, making a save with strong hands. Chelsea have reached the knockout stages in Europe in 14 of the last 17 seasons and only Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich have a better record than that.
They haven’t won in nine consecutive Champions League knockout games, however, suggesting this is their level. That run is unlikely to change in Munich, sadly, on this evidence.