Champions League not a learning curve for Chelsea – Palmer

Chelsea, according to Cole Palmer, don’t view the Champions League campaign this year as a “learning curve” because they want to be immediately competitive in it.

On Wednesday, Enzo Maresca’s team lost 3-1 to a more experienced Bayern Munich side at Allianz Arena, which was second-best.

Chelsea’s first Champions League appearance since April 2023 was a reminder that a young team must consider what it takes to succeed there.

However, Palmer has refuted the notion that they can’t do that quickly, while head coach Maresca suggested that his side could draw a lot from the defeat and “build something special.”

The England international said, “We are not coming here to be a learning curve.”

“We have shown tonight that we want to compete and that we want to do everything we can.”

After winning the Conference League two months prior, Chelsea won the Club World Cup in July, but their former player, Pat Nevin, always believed the Champions League would be a more difficult challenge.

On BBC Radio 5 Live, Nevin remarked, “This was the kind of performance I needed from Chelsea.” Many people were anticipating entering this competition because they are Club World Cup winners, and all of that, but I was like, “steady on.”

Maresca acknowledged that his team lacked “full focus for the full 95 minutes,” despite being generally pleased with their performance.

He continued, “I believe the players were already aware of this competition and the difficulties.”

You can’t make mistakes like we did, but I just said to the players, “We can learn a lot from this game and build something special from it.”

Chelsea made some good plays early on, especially when Pedro Neto and Enzo Fernandez both missed good chances but made mistakes.

After a drop-ball, they turned off, leaving Bayern’s Michael Olise with a cross that Trevoh Chalobah volleyed into his own net. The England captain converted a penalty after midfielder Moises Caicedo gave up Harry Kane.

When defender Malo Gusto gave the ball away in the second half after Palmer had pulled a goal back, Kane sealed the victory.

Bayern Munich were undoubtedly a long way ahead of Chelsea in this regard, Nevin continued on 5 Live.

Chelsea “made quite naive mistakes,” and they were misled for a lot of chances in addition to the goals. Young players in this competition learn from that, as is typical of that sport.

“This level is elite,” A jump, indeed. And it might take them a while to complete that jump.

Chelsea’s third-youngest Champions League team, which was fielded in Munich, may have had an issue.

Their 24-man squad had only 117 appearances in the competition between them for Wednesday’s match. Manuel Neuer, 39, has played 131 Champions League games for Bayern Munich alone.

At this level, his team-mates Kane, Joshua Kimmich, and Serge Gnabry have a lot of experience. Caicedo and Marc Cucurella, both of whom were Chelsea’s star names, made their debuts in the competition, in contrast.

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

After Kane had already scored it, it appeared like a third Bayern goal was about to come, but Maresca didn’t seem to be too slow to take action and only made adjustments after his team had fallen 3-1.