Chelsea self-sabotage costs Chelsea as Bayern edge Champions League opener

Chelsea were beaten 3-1 by Bayern Munich in their return to the Champions League, with a string of self-inflicted mistakes costing Enzo Maresca's side at the Allianz Arena. Trevoh Chalobah's own goal opened the scoring for Bayern in the first half, Moises Caicedo's foul led to a penalty that Harry Kane converted, and a miscue from Malo Gusto allowed Kane to claim his second. Chelsea pulled a consolation back through Cole Palmer, whose strike was described as a superb effort.

Palmer said after the final whistle that Chelsea deserved more from the night and that the three goals they conceded were their own fault, stressing that they created chances and showed they can compete with the game’s top sides. 'I thought we played well,' Palmer said. 'We've shown we deserve to play here. The three goals we conceded were our own fault. We had chances. We deserved better than what we got.' Maresca, meanwhile, questioned a refereeing decision, insisting that a red card for Bayern's Jonathan Tah for a Joao Pedro foul should have been produced, and arguing the match might have unfolded differently had the incident been judged harsher. 'Why is it not a red card? The referee told me it was not hard or aggressive enough. So to give the red card, they need to see blood? It was a tough decision from the referee because he could maybe judge a different way.' The Chelsea manager also noted his belief that the Spanish official in Munich could have influenced the game’s tempo with such calls. 'We are not here for it to be a learning curve. We want to compete.' The result leaves Chelsea with a challenging path in their group as they seek a sharper response when their campaign resumes on the road.