Cole Palmer: Chelsea forward says Champions League ‘not learning curve’

Nevin added on 5 Live: “It wasn’t quite men against boys, but Bayern Munich were certainly a good distance ahead of Chelsea here.

“The mistakes Chelsea made were quite naive and they were caught out, not just for the goals, but for a whole raft of chances aside from that. That’s what happens with young players playing in this competition, but they will learn from that.

“This level is elite. It is a jump. And that jump may take them a little while.”

Inexperience may well have been an issue: In Munich, Chelsea fielded their third-youngest ever Champions League team.

Their entire 24-man squad went into Wednesday’s match with just 117 appearances in the competition between them. By contrast, goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, 39, has played 151 times in the Champions League for Bayern Munich alone.

His team-mates Kane, Joshua Kimmich and Serge Gnabry have substantial experience at this level. By contrast, Chelsea pair Caicedo and Joao Pedro were making their debuts in the competition despite being among the team’s star names.

They were among eight Blues players, the most for a single match in Chelsea’s history in the competition, making their Champions League debuts.

Even head coach Maresca, part of Pep Guardiola’s staff during Manchester City’s 2023 Treble-winning campaign, may need to step up to this level.

It felt as if a third Bayern goal was coming for a few minutes before Kane scored it – but Maresca seemed slow to react, and only made changes after his team had gone 3-1 down.

It was too little, all too late.