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The talented playmaker says his team do not consider this season's Champions League as a "learning curve" - because they want to be strong in it straight away.

The manager's team were second-best as they fell 3-1 to a more experienced Bayern Munich at their home ground on Wednesday.

It was Chelsea's first outing in the competition since the previous season - and the game revealed a inexperienced side will need to reflect on what it takes to compete at that tier.

But manager the coach stated his side can learn plenty from the setback and "create something exceptional" - while forward the player has rejected the idea that they can't do that quickly.

"The team are not arriving here for it to be a learning curve," he said. "The squad have shown tonight we want to compete and we plan to do as well as we are able."

The club claimed the CWC in the summer, beating Paris St-Germain in East Rutherford, having won the third-tier European title two months prior, but Chelsea's previous attacker the analyst always felt the UCL was going to be a bigger test.

"The performance was the kind of performance that I foresaw from the Blues," Pat Nevin said. "Several fans were predicting beforehand that they were going to make an impact in this competition, they are CWC champions and such, but I was warning, 'wait a minute'. The step up you must to do to come to stadiums like this is very significant and a number of players just don't have that experience yet. They weren't equipped to do it as a team today."

Chelsea recognize shortcomings

Maresca may have been broadly pleased with his squad's performance, but conceded they lost "total focus for the entire 95 minutes".

He added: "In my view the team were fully aware of this competition, of the challenges. Teams should not allow errors in the fashion we have done, but I just reminded to the players, it's a match that we can take a lot from, and create something special from this loss."

The side played strongly, particularly in the beginning when their attacker and their playmaker missed great openings, but errors cost them.

They lost focus at a restart, letting Munich's wide player Olise open to send a delivery that Chalobah turned into his own net. Then midfielder Caicedo tripped Kane to offer a foul - which the forward netted.

After Palmer had pulled a effort back, the Bayern star completed victory in the after the break when defender the Frenchman lost the ball.

They were every backline mistakes against deadly opposition. The German side - a side who have won in their initial game in every of their previous 22 UCL campaigns - understand the challenges at this tier, in a way the existing Blues team are still learning to.

How can the team fix their youth?

Pat Nevin added: "It wasn't quite men against boys, but Bayern Munich were definitely a noticeable step better of Chelsea here. The errors the team committed were quite careless and they were exposed, aside from for the scores, but for a whole raft of chances besides that. That's what happens with youthful team playing in this tournament, but they will learn from that. The quality is elite. It is a leap. And that jump may need them a a period."

Youth may very have been an issue: At Allianz Arena, the Blues fielded their among the youngest in history UCL lineup.

Their full 24-man roster went into the fixture with only 117 outings in the competition among them. By contrast, keeper the German, 39, has played 131 games in the UCL for Bayern Munich by himself.

His colleagues Kane, Kimmich and the winger have considerable exposure at this level. On the other hand, Blues pair the midfielder and Marc Cucurella were earning their first appearances in the tournament despite being among the team's top figures.

Moreover manager Enzo, formerly on the Catalan's team during Manchester City' 2022-23 triple-winning season, may require to step up to this level.

It felt as if a additional Munich score was coming for a some minutes prior to Kane netted it - but the coach seemed reluctant to react, and merely brought on substitutions when his squad had fallen 3-1 trailing.

It was not enough, all too late.