On Wednesday night at the Allianz Arena, Bayern Munich overcame Chelsea by a score of 3-1 in their opening game of the 2025/2026 European Champions League.
The visitors started brightly, but Bayern eventually imposed their will on the game with some effective pressing and counterpressing. The tide swung in favor of the home team in the 20th. minute when Chelsea defender-Trevoh Chalobah inadvertently directed a cross from Michael Olise past his own goalkeeper to give the German Champions the lead. Seven minutes later, Chelsea’s failure to cope with the Bayern press resulted in a turnover and penalty kick which Harry Kane won and then converted to make it 2-0. Just before the half-hour mark Cole Palmer scored on the counter attack to keep the game in the balance.
Early in the second half the Bayern press again forced Chelsea into a turnover and Kane ruthlessly punished the error by scoring his second and the final goal of the match. Despite having more possession in the second half, Chelsea failed to trouble scorekeepers any further. Let’s now take a look at some key takeaways from Bayern’s deserved victory over the Club World Cup Champions.
Effective pressing at right time brought desired results
At the start of the game, the Bavarian giants deployed their customary possession game, but Chelsea appeared capable of beating the counter press whenever Bayern lost possession. As a result of that development the London-based side looked dangerous on the counter attack especially down Bayern’s left side.
However, Vincent Kompany’s men tightened the screws as the half wore on. Chelsea then eventually paid the price for trying to play out from the back one time too many as they succumbed to Bayern’s counter press and in desperation conceded the aforementioned penalty which resulted in the second goal.
However, Kompany wasn’t blind to the fact that Chelsea’s lone goal came when they were able to elude Bayern’s counter press, so he made the necessary adjustments thereafter.
In the second half, Bayern varied the tactical approach somewhat by conceding more possession to the visitors, but still the third goal, similar to the second, was also due to Chelsea’s inability to handle the press from Bayern as they were once again robbed of the ball when trying to play out from the back.