Spanish giants FC Barcelona have been knocked out from the group stage of the UEFA Champions League. It happens for the first time in the last 17 years that Barcelona failed to qualify for the round of 16. The El Blaugranas are now heading to the UEFA Europa League for the first time since 2003- when the tournament was called the UEFA Cup.
Barca’s exit was confirmed by the defeat against Bayern Munich last night. They lost to the German side at the Allianz Arena, conceding three goals. As a result, Benfica qualified for the next round by defeating Dynamo Kyiv.
Match Report
FC Barcelona have traveled to Allianz Arena to play a crucial game against Bayern Munich. It was a must-win game for the Catalan club to play in the round of 16. Barca’s new boss Xavi Hernandez played his team with 4-3-3. On the other side, Bayerns boss Julian Nagelsmann set up his team formation with 4-2-3-1. He used Lewandowski as the center-forward alongside two wingers, Kingsley Coman and Leroy Sane.
As the home team, Bayern Munich played attacking football from the beginning of the match. But they had to wait until 34 minutes to score the first. Thomas Muller scored in the 34th minute with a header from a brilliant chip of Lewandowski. Within ten minutes, the home team doubled their lead as Leroy Sane found the net for Bayern.
However, Barcelona could not break the defense of Bayern. Moreover, they conceded the third goal in the 62nd minute. Bayern midfielder Jamal Musiala scored that goal for the home team. Both teams did not score more in the remaining minutes. As a result, the Bavarians won the match, and Barcelona got eliminated from the UEFA Champions League.
Xavi’s Reactions
Barca boss Xavi Hernandez was not happy with his team performance. He had a press conference after the match. There he said,
This is the Champions League, but this is also our reality. It’s the situation we’re in. I’m angry. This is the reality and it pisses me off. We have to tackle it face-on. There’s nothing else for it. A new era starts today. We start from zero. Our objective is the Champions League, not the Europa League but that is our reality now and we have to try and win it.
