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EPL Champions League Returns There were a lot of statistics that were in Bayern Munich’s favour beyond the 3-1 scoreline as they beat Chelsea in their opening Champions League group game. Experience at this level can make all the difference and at the Allianz Arena it really showed. Before the fixture, Chelsea’s own website explained how the 23 players named in their A list squad for the competition had a combined 117 Champions League appearances between them. In contrast, Bayern Munich’s squad had 860. Advertisement To add further perspective, Jamie Gittens, who only joined Chelsea from Borussia Dortmund this summer, can already say he has played the second-most amount of Champions League games of anyone currently at the club (23). He is only 21 and was an unused substitute against Bayern Munich. Reece James, the sole survivor from Chelsea’s winning 2021 campaign, leads the way on just 31 matches. Of the 14 players who featured against Bayern on Wednesday evening, half were making their debut in the tournament: Moises Caicedo, Joao Pedro, Robert Sanchez, Pedro Neto, Malo Gusto, Estevao Willian and Andrey Santos. Two Bayern Munich substitutes got a taste of this level for the first time too: new signings Tom Bischof and a certain Nicolas Jackson, who is on a season-long loan from Chelsea. But they entered the fray in the 89th minute, when the game was effectively over. The contrast between the lead strikers for each side spoke volumes. Joao Pedro had many nice touches leading the line for Chelsea, but comparing where he is in his career to his counterpart, Harry Kane? It is not a fair contest. The Brazil international did not score, which was not surprising given that he failed to have a single shot. Meanwhile, Kane had five efforts and finished with a brace. Joao Pedro has started his Chelsea career very well, as his five goals and three assists in eight matches suggest. At 23, he also has a very credible 59 goals in English football (including spells at Watford and Brighton). But it pales into comparison with Kane, which is understandable, really, given the England international is nine years older. At club level, Kane has found the net 391 times. He is only the third player, behind Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo, to score 20 or more Champions League goals for two different clubs (21 for Tottenham, 21 for Bayern Munich). That extra know-how in the final third was crucial. Advertisement Bayern even had the edge in the dugout courtesy of this being Vincent Kompany’s 15th Champions League game as a head coach, whereas Enzo Maresca was just getting off the mark. Perhaps this played a part in Maresca not turning to his bench sooner when Bayern were clearly getting on top in the second half. Chelsea were still in the contest when they were trailing 2-1, but there were some significant warning signs as Sanchez saved well from Michael Olise and Kane to prevent Bayern from extending their advantage. Chelsea were not looking as threatening as they had in the first half either and with the Bayern team sensing that, you could see them growing in confidence. All of Chelsea’s outfield substitutes were given several minutes to warm up, but Alejandro Garnacho and Santos only entered the fray for the tiring Neto and James five minutes after Kane had made it 3-1. Maresca’s decision came too late. Now all this cannot excuse the naivety of Chelsea’s defending for the three goals they conceded. Chelsea simply switched off when Joshua Kimmich’s free kick was then turned into a drop ball after his initial set piece attempt hit referee Jose Maria Sanchez. Olise easily beat Joao Pedro and his cross was put into his own net by Trevoh Chalobah. Caicedo’s attempt to tackle Kane in the area soon afterwards was clumsy and gifted Bayern the opportunity to double their lead from the penalty spot. The final crucial error came from Gusto passing the ball back towards his own area and succeeded in providing an assist for Kane. Teething problems on their return to the Champions League were perhaps inevitable. This is obviously a serious upgrade on the UEFA Conference League they won last season, where errors are not punished as ruthlessly. Chelsea must take these things on board quickly if they want to finish in one of the top eight automatic qualifying spots, let alone avoid worrying about not progressing altogether. They cannot afford to be this generous when they face Barcelona at home in November or Napoli away two months later. Even their next match at home to Benfica seems a much tougher proposition due to former head coach Jose Mourinho looking likely to take over. Advertisement Maresca was right not to be full of doom and gloom after the Bayern match. Chelsea caused a lot of problems in the first half, none more so than Cole Palmer. This was just his second start in the competition (he made one start and seven substitute appearances for Manchester City), but you could not tell, especially with the way he stroked the ball into the top corner to halve Bayern’s lead. When asked by The Athletic if he felt Chelsea’s lack of Champions League games compared to Bayern was a decisive factor in how things went, Maresca suggested it had, but was full of optimism at the same time. “In terms of experience between them and us, I think there was a huge difference, ” he said. “But even without, we showed that we compete in the right way. You cannot come to this stadium, against this team and think you can dominate for the whole game. This is not the reality. “Probably the mistakes we did; it is something that we can learn from. But I have the feeling that we can build something special from this defeat. ” (Photo: Emmanuele Ciancaglini/Ciancaphoto Studio/Getty Images) Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle Simon Johnson has spent the majority of his career as a sports reporter since 2000 covering Chelsea, firstly for Hayters and then the London Evening Standard. This included going to every game home and away as the west London club secured the Champions League in 2012. He has also reported on the England national team between 2008-19 and been a regular contributor to talk SPORT radio station for over a decade. Follow Simon on Twitter @SJohnson Sport