Bayern Munich took a huge step forward in its mission to reach the Champions League quarterfinals after crushing Chelsea, 3-0, on Tuesday. Barcelona, on the other hand, earned a favorable 1-1 draw on the road against Napoli in first leg of the round of 16. Serge Gnabry scored a double and Robert Lewandowski found the back of the net to continue his dominant 2019-20 UCL campaign as the top scorer of the competition with 11 goals.
Barcelona looked pretty sharp in Italy to get a quality result but lost a couple key players in the process that leaves the return leg at Camp Nou a bit open. Here are three takeaways from Tuesday's action.
Chelsea faces a tall, tall task. To expect them to go to Bayern and win 3-0 just to force extra time is extremely unlikely. Even with a healthy squad, Frank Lampard's men just don't have enough at the striker position to finish that many times at Alianz Arena. Not having N'Golo Kante for this one really hurt as Bayern dominated the battle of the midfield. The fact of the matter is that Chelsea is a young team that needs to continue to develop. Getting the Blues out of a group that included Ajax and Valencia was an impressive accomplishment for Lampard in his first season, but their journey in this competition will likely end on March 18 in Germany.
Bayern had 16 shots, six on target, scored half of them and completed 88 percent of its passes in a game it thoroughly dominated from start to finish. Bayern had nearly 300 passes more than the Blues and have wrapped this one up ahead of the second leg. It's highly unlikely Bayern will be held goalless in the second leg, so that means Chelsea is going to probably need four goals to move on. With the efficient passing and dominant possession (64 percent), it's really hard to see how Bayern could even let Chelsea come close to getting through. This one is all but over.
There are big questions ahead of the second leg in Spain on March 18. For starters, how does Barca coach Quique Setien cope with the suspensions to Arturo Vidal and Sergio Busquets? He doesn't have a natural defensive midfielder to throw in, but maybe he ops to use Sergi Roberto there. If not, expect Arthur, Frenkie de Jong and Ivan Rakitic to play in a midfield that is more poised to attack than defend.
What about Napoli coach Genarro Gattuso? Will Dries Mertens rush to regain his form before the second leg? The goalscorer came off in the second half after a tackle from Busquets. There is likely no way Napoli gets through the second leg if he can't go. He's got three weeks or so to get healthy, and he was able to walk off under his own power. It will be interesting to see in the coming days if it's something minor or potentially something a bit more serious.
· FULL TIME: Napoli 1, Barcelona 1
· FULL TIME: Chelsea 0, Bayern Munich 3
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It's Barcelona 1, Napoli 1 from the San Paolo. Barca has the edge entering the second leg with Griezmann's goal, but those absences for the second leg could make things interesting. On the other side, will Dries Mertens be ready?
All Bayern all the time in London on this Tuesday night. Chelsea couldn't even get a consolation prize to prepare for their trip to Germany where they will almost surely leave with their Champions League dreams done.
Barca will likely have to go with Rakitic, De Jong and Athur in the second leg with the suspensions to Vidal and Busquets. Not as defensive as they would like and it could be a break for Napoli.
89' Barca's Artuto Vidal is out of this one and the return leg with a red card! He gets a yellow for a foul and then another for his reaction. It was a dangerous tackle on Rui where a yellow was warranted, but Vidal and Rui get into it a bit too much after, and each get a yellow from that confrontation.
89' Mason Mount cuts towards the left side of the box from wide left and pushes his way forward to attempt a weak shot. It amounted to nothing but it looked like he was the only man on his side trying to get at least one back.
85' Gnabry the hero is brought off for Corentin Tolisso. Not the loudest sending off considering who the majority of the crowd supports, but surely those in Munich are giving him the celebratory cheers he deserves.
80' Not long to go now in Naples. Barca is really pushing for another goal but Napoli's defense is attentive. Another goal in this one?
84' Marcos Alonso sent off after VAR determines the Chelsea man smacked Lewandowski on the face off the ball. The Spaniard is out for the second leg of this match up, and perhaps the competition if this is how it ends for Chelsea.
76' The Canadian teenager Davies streaks down the left side and, in a very veteran-minded move, finds Lewandowski running down the middle to put the Germans up three at Stamford Bridge. The risk that Chelsea ran for sending so many players forward came true and Bayern pounced.
74' Willian finds himself open on the right side of the box and tries to bend in a low cross in the hopes of finding a single teammate to make contact with the ball and send it in. No teammate made it in time and ball rolled out for a goal kick.
69' Kimmich passes directly to Mount who charges towards goal and sees Neuer off his line. Unfortunately, he misjudges just how much space he had and launches his shot over the bar. Mistakes can still happen, no matter how much a team is dominating the other.
66' Messi is shown a yellow for giving Ospina a cleat to his chest on a chance in front of goal. Dangerous play but he didn't intend anything malicious. Messi was surprised at getting that yellow.
66' Coman goes down clutching his hamstring. Philippe Coutinho comes on in his place.
64' Christensen flails his arm out while in the box and it makes contact with the ball. Despite the calls for a penalty, the official does not blow his whistle.
64' Jose Callejon was played into the box perfectly by Milik, but he takes a touch instead of going first time, and Ter Stegen makes a brilliant save.
63' The Gnabry party is truly underway with yet another goal-scoring opportunity from the Bayern man. He finds himself in the box, cuts back and forth and shoots at goal. The ball is deflected for a corner, which harmlessly falls to Chelsea.
61' Willian and Tammy Abraham come on for Olivier Giroud and Ross Barkley. Chelsea don't have many other options at this point.
59' The Bayern player nearly scores a third after a long throw from the right finds Muller in the box, who's able to inexplicably head a cross to Gnabry, who tries to volley the ball only to launch it to the moon.
57' Barcelona scores! Griezmann with a clinical finish inside the box for a big away goal. Busquets played a great ball into the box that Semedo plays across the face of goal, with the Frenchman finishing with class.
54' It's Gnabry again using his pace to get behind the defense and fire one cool as you like to the far post past Caballero. The floodgates have opened and Chelsea are in trouble
54' Mertens is injured after a challenge from Busquets. He is coming off for Milik. Really tough blow for the hosts.
52' Gnabry slots in Bayern's first of the game. Who else but Thiago starts things off with a brilliant pass to Gnabry, which causes Azpilicueta to slip and gives the Bayern player the space to find Lewandowski, who flicks it back to Gnabry, who finally beats Caballero. All of Gnabry's goals in England have happened in London
50' Jorginho took exception to a tackle from Bayern's Kimmich and got right in the face of the official demanding that action be taking. The ref obliges and brandishes a yellow card for the Chelsea player
49' Perhaps this is the wishful thinking of a person desiring a more exciting second half, but it seems like Chelsea are more prepared to go toe-to-toe with Bayern in the final 45. A late offside flag officially wipes away an incredible charge from the Blues, but there's no denying that they had nearly earned a goal-scoring opportunity on pace and energy alone.
The second 45 is underway. Napoli still sitting back and trying to defend with everything. Pressure is on Barca here to do something.
46' Second half underway with Chelsea starting things off
The players are in the tunnel at Stamford Bridge
Napoli and Barcelona have reached halftime. Napoli takes the 1-0 lead thanks to Mertens' unbelievable strike on the half-hour mark. It's injected the hosts with an energy Barca just hasn't matched.
It was Bayern's half in almost every sense, with the exception of the scoreline. Muller and Lewandowski each had chances that should have put the German side up at least one goal, but staunch goalkeeping and a strong woodwork prevented either of those from manifesting. Chelsea had opportunities on the break but none really had the strength that Bayern's threats had.
