'Chelsea have nothing to lose' - Giroud ready for 'almost impossible' task to knock out Bayern

The Blues striker saw his side well-beaten at home in the Champions League and he feels the tie is close to being over already
Olivier Giroud feels that it will be 'almost impossible' for Chelsea to overcome the 3-0 defeat they suffered at home to Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

A second-half brace from Serge Gnabry, followed by a Robert Lewandowski goal, put Bayern firmly in command of the last-16 tie ahead of the return leg in Munich in three weeks’ time.

Chelsea will head to the Allianz Arena in March without the suspended Marcos Alonso and Jorginho, leaving Giroud to acknowledge the size of the task facing Frank Lampard’s side if they are to reach the quarter-finals.

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"It's going to be almost impossible," Giroud said at Stamford Bridge. "We need to go there with belief, to believe that we can score. You never know. They scored three here, so we need to go there and score three and not concede. I'm not joking.

"So, we have nothing to lose, we're going to play our game maybe with more freedom. They are a team with a lot of experience. When I was on the pitch I was thinking 'everything is so smooth'.

"They have played together for a very long time, they have a very good understanding with each other. They played well and you have to recognise this. But you don't have to keep your head down and we've got to bounce back as soon as possible.

"They were the better team so it's very deflating obviously. We need to move on and focus on what's next now, even if in the first half we could have done better because we had opportunities to score.

"But when you concede two goals in four minutes it's very hard to come back psychologically, to turn the game. They played a very good game, and they are a very good team."

Giroud was recalled to the starting line-up for the first time in the Champions League since Chelsea were knocked out by Barcelona in 2018 after he had impressed in the weekend’s Premier League win over Tottenham.

It also provided the France international with a reunion with Gnabry, and Giroud spoke to his former Arsenal team-mate following his starring role in Bayern’s victory.


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"I said to him I'm happy for him because I played with him at Arsenal when he was 16," he continued. "But the way he's improved is amazing.

“He's doing so well now. I'm happy for him because he's a good guy and he deserves it. For us now though, we need to bounce back on Saturday."

The Blues next face a trip to Bournemouth in the league before tackling Liverpool at Stamford Bridge in an FA Cup fifth-round tie next week.