Ending their two and a half year absence from Europe's biggest occasions, Chelsea travel to Bayern Munich in curious standing. 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 t

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