Barcelona was mathematically eliminated from the Champions League and will play the Europa League for the second consecutive season, something that had not happened for 24 years, when the second European competition was called the UEFA Cup.
The last time this happened was in the 1986-1987 and 1987-1988 seasons. In the first, with Terry Venables as coach, Barcelona was eliminated against Dundee United in the quarterfinals and, in the second, with Luis Aragonés, the executioner was Bayer Leverkusen in the fourth round. In fact, the Barcelona team he never won this competition in the 10 times he played it.
after the big investment made by Joan Laporta’s board, with impressive signings such as Robert Lewandowski, Jules Koundé and Raphael Días ‘Raphinha’, not even the most pessimistic mind could think that Barcelona would fall again in the group stage of the Champions League.
KNOW MORE: Barça, already eliminated, succumbs at the Camp Nou against Bayern
But Xavi Hernández’s team was unable to defeat either of the two big rivals in group C, Bayern Munich and Inter Milan. They lost to the Germans 2-0 away and 0-3 at home this Wednesday, and fell to the Italians 1-0 and achieved a sterile 3-3 at the Camp Nou.
Thus, the Bayern Munich is confirmed as the great black beast of Barcelona in recent years in the ‘Champions’. After the historic 2-8 in Lisbon in the quarterfinals of the 2019-2020 season, the Barça team has chained four new defeats against the Germans with a total of 0 goals for and 11 against (3-0, 0-3 , 2-0 and 0-3).
On the other hand, the Barcelona conceded 10 goals in the first five games of the group stage, seven of them conceded at home (one against Viktoria Pilsen, three against Inter Milan and another three against Bayern Munich).
These data contrast with the performance of the Catalans in the League, in which no rival has managed to beat Marc-André Ter Stegen at the Spotify Camp Nou in the six games played so far.
After the elimination and the last defeat against Bayern, Xavi said that now Barça must focus on the four titles that remain: the Europa League, La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup.
