Chelsea reach several all-time European lows in Bayern thrashing

The gulf in quality between Bayern Munich and Chelsea was painfully exposed over two legs for the Londoners, who went down to their biggest-ever aggregate defeat in European football thanks to Saturday's heavy defeat. 

Frank Lampard's side travelled to the Allianz Arena in search of a minor miracle. 

Chelsea had been thrashed 3-0 at Stamford Bridge in the Champions League last-16 first leg, meaning they needed to beat the Bundesliga outfit by at least that margin to keep their faint hopes alive in the competition. 

Their task was made even more difficult by a spate of injuries, with Christian Pulisic, Cesar Azpilicueta, Pedro and Willian all unavailable for Saturday's visit; meaning the final result raised few eyebrows as Bayern showed their dominance. 

Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring from the penalty spot nine minutes in and added a second towards the end, while Ivan Perisic and Corentin Tolisso also hit the net in a 4-1 victory for the hosts. 

Tammy Abraham scored Chelsea's only goal of the game and indeed the tie, as the west Londoners ultimately went down 7-1 on aggregate over the two legs. 

Never before had the Blues conceded seven in a single European tie, marking an unwanted piece of history for Lampard in his debut season on the bench at Stamford Bridge.

It is also the side's biggest-ever European aggregate defeat, surpassing a 4-1 loss at the hands of Barcelona in 2018. 

Lewandowski's second goal was additionally the 16th conceded by Chelsea in this season's Champions League, another new low for the club, who have struggled defensively throughout Lampard's debut campaign.

The Blues shipped 79 goals in all competitions in the 2019-20 season, an average of 1.44 per game. It is their worst average since the 1990-91 campaign, when they conceded 1.64 goals per game.

Meanwhile, Lewandowski is having a season to remember in 2019-20, bringing his Champions League tally up to 13 with Saturday's double after smashing 34 goals in just 31 games to spearhead Bayern's latest successful Bundesliga defence. 

But he is far more than just a goalscorer: Lewandowski was involved in all seven of his side's goals against Chelsea, scoring three and assisting a further four. 

Bayern move on to face Barcelona in the quarter-finals, after the Catalans saw off Napoli's challenge to win 3-1 at Camp Nou on Saturday, and 4-2 on aggregate.