Barcelona failed to make a parting statement from the Champions League, succumbing to another loss to Bayern Munich at home.
The Catalans only had the pride to play for after Inter’s 4-0 win over Viktoria Plzen earlier in the night had left them with no chance of progression but a dejected Barcelona side fell 3-0 to goals from Sadio Mane, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Benjamin Pavard.
The defeat to Bayern means Barcelona will once again be relegated from the Champions League to the Europa League for a second consecutive season while the Germans and Inter Milan qualify for the knockout stages from Group C.
Bayern did not have to wait long to break the deadlock through Sadio Mane who beat Marc-Andre ter Stegen with a chip in the 10th minute before Choupo-Moting doubled his side’s lead in the 31st to effectively seal the game.
Barcelona seemed to have gotten some respite with a penalty call but referee Anthony Taylor overturned his decision after a visit to the pitch side monitor. Substitute Benjamin Pavard then added to Barca’s misery with a goal from practically the last kick of the game.
Once the juggernauts of the European competition, Barcelona have made the semifinals just once in 2019 since winning the trophy in 2015. For the past two years, they have been relegated to the Europa League signalling an end to their domination of the European stage.
Their only win in Europe came against Viktoria Plzen.
Barcelona also spent heavily in the summer to turn things around which seems to have failed for now but they can still salvage something from this season by competing in the league where they currently sit behind Real Madrid.
