"It was the kind of performance that I expected from Chelsea. A lot of people were saying beforehand that they were going to break into this competition, they are Club World Cup champions and all of that, but I was thinking, 'steady on'. The jump you need to do to come to places like this is quite big and a number of players just don't have that experience yet. They weren't able to do it as a group today."
"We are not coming here for it to be a learning curve. We have shown tonight we want to compete and we want to do as best as we can."
"I think the players were already aware of this competition, of the difficulties. You cannot commit mistakes in the way we have done, but I just said to the players, it's a game that we can learn a lot from, and build something special from this defeat."
Chelsea lost 3-1 to Bayern Munich in their first Champions League match since April 2023, exposing experience gaps in a young squad. Head coach Enzo Maresca acknowledged lapses in concentration and said the defeat can be a foundation to learn from and build something special. Forward Cole Palmer rejected the notion that the campaign should be treated as a learning curve, insisting the team wants to compete immediately. Former player Pat Nevin argued the Champions League represents a bigger step up despite Chelsea's recent Club World Cup and Conference League successes, highlighting the need for group experience.
Read at www.bbc.com
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