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Chelsea travel to Bayern Munich Wednesday, ending their two and a half year absence from Europe's biggest occasions. Few would rank them alongside their hosts in the inner circle of Champions League contenders, but Enzo Maresca's side will not be able to frame this season as a learning exercise. They may be young, but as stadium announcers will be telling Stamford Bridge for the next four years, they are champions of the world. Should that not come with a degree of expectation?

After all, in lifting that title, they obliterated the Champions League holders. The 3-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain was undoubtedly the finest hour of Maresca's tenure, indeed of the entire post-Roman Abramovich era. Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali have asked a fanbase inculcated on immediate success to take the long way round. MetLife could be a sign of patience rewarded. Or it could be a freak game at the end of an exhausting season, a match where Chelsea started brilliantly and half an hour in PSG concluded that they had done enough in 2024-25.

On the other hand, scrub that brilliant final from the record, and what did west London's finest achieve in their month stateside? They comfortably beat U.S. and Tunisian opposition, just about got the better of Brazilian opposition two times out of three and overcame Benfica in extra time. None of that is of a mode with the team who smashed past PSG, nor does it scream Champions League contender.

Given the squad overhaul that Chelsea conduct on a biennial basis, it feels there are precious few data points to assess how this team holds up against Europe's elite. It's not like the Conference League offered much beyond the spectacle of nine-figure squads showing Armenia's second-best team what's what.

Six games against Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City last season brought a win and a draw, and that sole victory was when the Reds were coasting through their title celebrations. Again, though, like the PSG game it happened and it was extremely impressive, Enzo Fernandez firing his side into an early ascendancy from which they controlled proceedings even without dominating possession. That showed some growth from the team who got out in front against City in January and seemed to have no sense of what to do with their lead. Across six games against the top three last season, Chelsea produced 8.84 expected goals (xG) and gave up 8.52. Results might not have gone their way but maybe there was a chance to get more in those games.

"Maybe" seems to be the operating word around Chelsea right now. Maybe they have improved their attacking starters in swapping in Estevao and Joao Pedro for Noni Madueke and Nicolas Jackson, the latter likely to be on the bench behind Harry Kane when Bayern Munich welcome the Blues to the Allianz Arena. Their first four league games have you thinking that maybe they would be in a worse place but for some very favorable VAR calls or that maybe a team with a plus-one xG difference per game could push quite high in what might be an underwhelming title race.

What is certain is that Chelsea did hit that peak in New York/New Jersey, flying out of the traps with such force that they shunted PSG off their axis. Take that standard of performance and deliver it throughout the league phase and perhaps the world champions will be in the mix to add more continental honors to their trophy cabinet.

How to watch Bayern Munich vs. Chelsea, odds

  • Date: Wednesday, Sep. 17 | Time: 3 p.m. ET
  • Location: Allianz Arena -- Munich, Germany
  • Live stream: Paramount+
  • Odds: Bayern Munich -154; Draw +320; Chelsea +350

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Possible lineups

Bayern Munich: Manuel Neuer; Konrad Laimer, Dayot Upamecano, Jonathan Tah, Josip Stanisic; Joshua Kimmich, Aleksandar Pavlovic; Michael Olise, Serge Gnabry, Luis Diaz; Harry Kane

Chelsea: Robert Sanchez; Reece James, Tosin Adarabioyo, Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella; Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo; Estevao, Cole Palmer, Pedro Neto; Joao Pedro