Chelsea player ratings: Caballero gave 45 minutes of hope, Kovacic alone fit in

Ross Barkley, Attacking midfielder: 4

Barkley looked solid and confident at times in the first half, and other times he was attempting scorpion kick flick clearances. Sometimes he had the simple purpose in his runs and passing that made you think he would drive towards the box and create a chance for himself or Olivier Giroud, other times you reached for the bottle as you realized he was starting a Champions League match against Bayern Munich.

Playing for 60 minutes, Barkley made eight passes. Eight. Ocho. That’s as many as Tammy Abraham – a striker – made in 30 minutes, and one fewer than Pedro made in 18 minutes.

We’re not even sure how that can happen.

Olivier Giroud, Striker: 5.5

Olivier Giroud did all the necessary work in bringing down and flicking on the long balls from Willy Caballero. He dropped deep into midfield to connect the play, with Caballero’s long balls bypassing Bayern Munich’s press and Giroud’s touches bypassing the defensive midfielders. If only the attacking midfielders around him could do something with those balls and then return them to Giroud for a scoring chance.

Giroud was more isolated on offence than in transition, which is not a great place for a target man striker. He can be justifiably frustrated at Mason Mount, who mostly chose to do everything himself rather than play in Giroud.

Giroud is more than happy to be the supporting man, but the implicit agreement there is that it comes back to him when he is in the best position.

Mason Mount, Attacking midfielder: 4.5

Mount put in one of those personality test performances. Do you praise him for creating so many chances, or rue the fact that he couldn’t finish any of them? Do you commend his desire to take things on himself and want the ball and the game at his feet, or do you excoriate him for his unproductive and myopic selfishness?

Perhaps part of the problem is that Mason Mount and Olivier Giroud are both so good at opening up space for others that when they play together no one is sure about who is to occupy that space to finish the job. In the first half, some of Mount’s runs enabled long switches of play by deftly pulling Alphonso Davies away from Reece James; just as his movement in the box created space for Barkley or Marcos Alonso.

It’s another parallel between him and Frank Lampard in his managerial capacity: you can see what they are trying to do and what they are capable of, but to what end, and how is it supposed to work when the team need it, namely, now?