The Allianz Arena will always hold cherished memories for Chelsea but when they pick through the wreckage of their first night back in the Champions League there will be plenty of moments that they would rather not have to think about again.

Back at the ground where they became European champions for the first time, there was the brief prospect of the team in blue pulling off another unlikely heist in Bavaria. Yet while there was defiance after Bayern Munich went 2-0 up inside 27 minutes, Cole Palmer halving the deficit with typical nonchalance, the problems at the other end were too great for Chelsea to overcome.

The defending must improve if Enzo Maresca’s young side are to make a serious impact in this competition. They have a lot to learn after two years out of the big time. There were simply too many mistakes from Chelsea, exposing their inexperience at this level, and ultimately that was always likely to prove fatal given that Bayern had Harry Kane ready to remind Premier League opposition of his ruthlessness in front of goal.

Even Palmer could not steal centre stage from Kane. England’s captain is Bayern’s talisman. Their hopes of ruling Europe for the first time since 2020 rest on his shoulders. The numbers are ridiculous. Kane has already scored 11 times for club and country this season, while he has Moisés Caicedo and Malo Gusto to thank for helping him to extend his record in the Champions League to 42 goals in 58 appearances.

Chelsea pressed the self‑destruct button twice, handing Kane his goals. Bayern were not wholly convincing despite opening the league phase with a 3-1 win. Chelsea competed. Maresca was pleased with the effort but rued a failure to take care of the details. Chelsea’s head coach raged, too, at Jonathan Tah not being sent off for a cynical foul on João Pedro in the buildup to Palmer’s goal.

The positive for Maresca was that reverting to the formula that flummoxed Paris Saint-Germain in the Club World Cup final made sense. Deploying Reece James alongside Caicedo added ballast in midfield. Chelsea looked balanced in the early stages. They tested Bayern’s high line, Gusto’s raids from right‑back offering encouragement, and it took a vital intervention from Konrad Laimer to stop Enzo Fernández from giving Chelsea an early lead.

Yet Bayern brought their own threats. Serge Gnabry schemed in the pockets and there was danger whenever the ball reached Michael Olise on the right.

Chelsea needed no introduction to Olise given that they twice tried to sign him from Crystal Palace. Knowing about the winger’s threat is not the same as knowing how to combat it, though. The marking had to be tighter when Joshua Kimmich played a free‑kick out to Olise in the 20th minute. Instead João Pedro was isolated by the Frenchman, who breezed round the outside before firing in a cross that Trevoh Chalobah turned into his own net under pressure from Dayot Upamecano.

Chelsea lost focus. A mix-up on the left invited further trouble .Caicedo had given away the free-kick before the opener and he was soon at fault again, clumsily fouling Kane as Bayern’s No 9 turned in the area.

Kane made it 2-0, beating Robert Sánchez with a cool penalty. Game over? Not quite. Chelsea have tasted adversity in this stadium before, fighting to defeat Bayern in the 2012 final. Here the response came from Caicedo winning possession off Olise. Suddenly, with Tah colliding with João Pedro on halfway, Palmer was surging through. A one-two with Gusto followed, leaving Palmer to mark his 100th appearance for Chelsea and his first for the club in this competition by clipping a lovely finish past Manuel Neuer.

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