Chelsea: Four reasons loss to Bayern was as predictable as it was necessary
By Varun Dani
2. Remember Camp Nou 2018?
Surely 99% of the fans that watched and reacted to the Bayern Munich match remember the last time Chelsea was in the Round Of 16 of the Champions League.
To all those who watched that cold night in Camp Nou two years back: How were you still surprised and enraged?
From the tactics to the performance to the result, the games are nearly carbon copies of each other. Chelsea set up to defend an onslaught by one of the best teams in the world, only to crumble after the first mistake amid the opposition’s overwhelming pressure.
The back three were heavily criticised for their performance on Tuesday, but rewind two years and the exact backline of Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen and Cesar Azpilicueta couldn’t cut it, so how was any different expected this time around?
Chelsea's loss to Bayern started years before kick-off on Tuesday. light. Related Story
The lesson learnt that night in Camp Nou has been reiterated multiple times in the last two years, with another dose on Tuesday: players have ceilings. The majority of the players at the club have ceilings that are not high enough for a club of Chelsea’s stature, just as it was in 2018, which is a huge failure on the part of those responsible for bringing in players of the necessary calibre.
Einstein is wrongly attributed with saying that insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. The the board and fans seem to have no problem succumbing to that repetition.
Maurizio Sarri seems to have had a greater impact on this club than previously imagined.