FRANK LAMPARD admits his Chelsea side were handed a brutal lesson by Bayern Munich as they crashed to the clubs heaviest ever European home defeat.
The Blues were out-classed on a night which showed the gulf in quality between Lampards young pretenders and one of the real giants of Champions League.
Former Arsenal star Serge Gnabry continued his capital punishment with a double rounded off by a third from Robert Lewandowski in the 3-0 win which puts Bayern with one foot in the last-eight.
Having scored four in the destruction of Tottenham earlier this season, Gnabry has now struck six in London in a matter a months and afterwards tweeted: London is still red.
And Lampard was left with the realisation his players had been given a clinical lesson of what top level football is all about as his side need a miracle in the second leg in Munich on March 18.
He said: “The performance was poor and sometimes you have to be brutally honest. They outclassed us in every department and it’s quite sobering.
It was a reality check. The level of team they are is why they challenge in the Bundesliga and Europe year in year out.
I’m disappointed we couldn’t do more against them. We have to take it on the chin and work towards getting back to the levels we want to be at.
Thats football at this level. The levels of Bayern Munich were fantastic, they are a really strong team and I was aware of that.
“If you look at the choice of passes they make, our choices have to improve.
If our players have a bit about them, which I think they do, they will look at who they were playing against and the level they need to work to.
Unless we were to get everything right and bang on then it was going to be a really tough night. And we didnt get everything bang on, we werent confident on the ball and that was my biggest disappointment.
So it was a harsh lesson, a reality for the players of the levels we want to get to.
Gnabry said: Ive got a lot of friends here, seems like theyre giving me some good power. I always enjoy coming back to London.
We knew we had to be patient. We had the game under control, knowing wed get our chances and in the end we took them.
But last year Liverpool beating Barcelona after 3-0, we need to be careful.
