Barcelona condemned to UEFA Europa League after losing to Bayern Munich

Barcelona’s attempt to salvage their UEFA Champions League season was to no avail after the Blaugrana saw Inter Milan beat Viktoria Plzen earlier in the day before they themselves lost 3-0 scandalously to Bayern Munich at Camp Nou.

After their results from the previous matchday against Inter Milan, where they lost in Italy, Barcelona knew that their European destiny was out of their own hands. Therefore, they needed the Czech Republic side to beat Inter while they needed to win at home to Bayern.

However, the reverse was the results of the games against Barcelona as Inter Milan thrashed Viktoria Plzen 4-0.

Barcelona missed out on the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League (UCL) for the second consecutive season, while Bayern Munich sealed the top spot in the group with a draw.

Sadio Mané found it all too easy to break the deadlock inside 10 minutes as the Senegalese international made it double figures in a Bayern shirt as he latched onto a defense-splitting pass from Serge Gnabry, outrunning Héctor Bellerín before chipping coolly beyond Marc-André ter Stegen’s reach.

Gnabry was yet again the provider, feeding Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting’s perfectly timed run before he thrashed his effort through the legs of a helpless Ter Stegen for Bayern’s second before half-time.

Bayern had a third disallowed early in the second half, but Benjamin Pavard capped off the scoring moments from time, tapping home a third.

Bayern extended their record unbeaten 33-game run in the UCL group stages and have now won their last five games against Barcelona, scoring 18 and conceding just two. 

For Barça, they now join fellow heavyweights Juventus and Atlético Madrid in Europe’s second-string competition, the UEFA Europa League, even though they have one more group stage game against Viktoria Plzen, which is a mere formality.