The Germans scored three second-half goals to take the tie away from Chelsea ahead of the return leg in Munich next month, and while Lampard was quick to acknowledge the quality possessed by the visitors, he was also frustrated his own side couldn’t raise their game to match the occasion.


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‘That’s football at this level,’ the boss said.

‘Bayern Munich’s levels were fantastic. Unless we were to get everything right it was going to be a tough night. We didn’t get everything bang on, we weren’t confident on the ball. That was my biggest disappointment, mostly from start to finish.

‘We want to play here, we’ve shown that all season, but today we went away from that. That can happen in an intense atmosphere when all eyes are on. It was a harsh lesson and a reality for the players of the levels we want to get to.

‘There is a lot of quality in their team, and a build to it with players like Lewandowski, Muller, Boateng, Neuer, Alaba, who have been there a long time. There is a lot to their team we have to respect.

‘In the first half we suffered in moments but we defended resiliently. Technically our defending wasn’t great but we stayed in the game and had a couple of chances.

‘You have to show more than we showed over 90 minutes. The first goal had a bit of a slip in the build-up, but the clinical nature with which they finished it showed a team of their quality will score goals if you give them chances.’