Barcelona’s Champions League run ends in a whimper

No miracle for Barcelona as Bayern Munich trounces them again

Barcelona started off strong in their do-or-die match away to Bayern Munich. Xavi Hernandez’s team played knowing their Champions League future hung in the balance. However, it was not to be.

Those early minutes of good play went unrewarded as the team could not reflect it on the score sheet. Their plan, which had been working, was ripped apart once Jordi Alba was unable to continue. He was a doubt heading in and only mustered 31 minutes before needing to be taken off.

In a surprise move, Xavi opted for Oscar Mingueza instead of Alejandro Balde who is a natural left-back as opposed to Mingueza who is a center-back. That move came back to haunt him as only minutes later, Bayern got on the board first and it was Mingueza, and Clement Lenglet, who failed to mark Thomas Muller on the header.

Two minutes before the end of the half, the Germans doubled their lead as Leroy Sane rocketed a shot from well outside the area. The ball knuckled as it made its way towards goal but Marc-Andre ter Stegen certainly contributed.

With Benfica up against Dynamo Kyiv in the other group stage match, the writing was on the wall. As if needing to put an exclamation mark on the proceedings, Jamal Musiala scored Bayern’s third and final goal.

The final whistle blew, confirming Barcelona’s elimination from the group stage and their descent into the Europa League.

It was a fitting end to their debacle.

It began with Bayern beating Barcelona 3-0 at the Camp Nou and ended with the same scoreline at the Allianz Arena.

"“Bayern dominated us,” Xavi said. “We always want to dominate but it was the opposite here. We must demand more. We’re Barca. This must be a point of inflection to change the dynamic and many more things.“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.”Source: ESPN"

The culmination of financial and sporting mismanagement finally came home to roost for the Catalans. As well as keeping Ronald Koeman in charge for far too long. The decision by Joan Laporta to maintain the Dutchman for as long as he did and not sack him in the summer has cost the club.

The numbers tell the whole story for Barcelona. In a game they needed to win, they were held scoreless. They only managed to score two goals in six games and both came against Dynamo Kyiv.

A large percentage of their hopes in advancing were placed on the delicate hamstrings of Ousmane Dembélé. The Frenchman had an active first half but his influence greatly diminished toward the latter stages.

Thomas Muller summed up Barcelona perfectly after the game where he praised the players and talked up their qualities. But he was astute in pointing out that despite all that, they simply don’t have the intensity required to compete at the elite level.

He’s right. Whenever Barcelona has played against a top team, they have an early spell where they’re the better team but it only lasts the first 20 minutes or so before that intensity drops. They end up either losing or hanging on in the final moments.

Barcelona won’t be in the knockout stage of the Champions League for the first time in 17 years. For a club of their size, they suffer the humiliation of now having to play in the Europa League.

The silver lining of Barcelona’s predicament is it could be their best opportunity of reaching the Champions League next season. The Europa League winners earn a spot in next year’s Champions League.

Currently sitting in seventh place, six points behind Atletico Madrid for fourth, making the top four also seems like a daunting ask for Barça.