Canadian international Alphonso Davies set the tone with lightning-fast runs while Serge Gnabry scored a brace and Robert Lewandowski added a goal in Bayern Munich’s 3-0 win at Chelsea in Champions League action Tuesday.
Davies, a 19-year-old from Edmonton, started at left back for Bayern, and his brilliant counterattack was the catalyst for the team’s third goal. Davies made a lightning run down the left flank and crossed to Lewandowski for a tap-in in the 76th minute, giving Bayern a resounding win in the first leg of the round of 16 showdown.
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Davies’ play earned plaudits on social media from some big names in soccer.
“Alphonso Davies’ parents fled Liberia in the civil war. He was born in a refugee camp in Ghana and moved to Canada when he was five. Here he is playing beautifully for Bayern at 19. What a wonderful story,” former England striker Gary Lineker, now an analyst with BBC Sport, posted on Twitter.
“Alphonso Davies is a world-class left back,” added former U.S. international Stuart Holden.
“Top five in world soccer right now easy. ”
READ MORE: Alphonso Davies scores his 1st goal for Bayern Munich
Gnabry, meanwhile, continued his torrid scoring in London. He also scored four goals at Tottenham in the Champions League group stage.
No player has scored more goals in London in the Champions League this season. Not bad for a player who left Arsenal in 2016 after only 18 first-team appearances.
A career revitalized at Werder Bremen and Hoffenheim is now in full flow, with 17 goals in all competitions this season.
“I’m happy he is scoring so much in London now and not five years ago,” Bayern forward Thomas Muller said, “because if that were the case he probably wouldn’t be with us now.”
Bayern lost to Chelsea in its home stadium in the 2012 Champions League final, but its subsequent visits to the English team’s home city have produced devastating attacking displays.
Bayern has now inflicted the heaviest home Champions League defeats on Chelsea, Arsenal in a 5-1 win in 2017 and Tottenham in a 7-2 rout in October that was lit up by Gnabry’s quadruple strike.
The double at Stamford Bridge came in a three-minute spell at the start of the second half.
“I have a lot of friends here in London, they were in the stadium,” Gnabry said. “They seem to give me extra strength and you saw what happened.”
The Premier League’s fourth-place team struggled to cope with the intensity of the German league leaders but held out until the 51st minute when Gnabry played a one-two with Lewandowski before slotting the ball past goalkeeper Willy Caballero.
Gnabry started the move that led to the second, releasing Lewandowski on the left flank again and racing forward to receive ball back in the penalty area and placing a calm finish inside the far post.
Chelsea was completely overwhelmed and had to play with 10 men from the 83rd when Marcos Alonso’s yellow card was upgraded to red after a VAR review on an off-the-ball elbowing of Lewandowski.
“We are in a very bad position going into the second leg,” Chelsea manager Frank Lampard, who lifted the European Cup as a player in 2012 at Bayern. “It’s a show of character.”
The night’s other last-16 match was a closer contest with Barcelona drawing 1-1 at Napoli after Antoine Griezmann cancelled out Dries Mertens’ opener for the Italians.