Bayern again beat Barca by 3 goals. Photo: Xinhua News Agency
Beijing News (reporter Xu Bangyin) In the early morning of December 9, the final round of the 2021-2022 Champions League group stage ended, and Barcelona, who played away, lost 0-3 to Bayern Munich, and in another match in the same group, Benfica beat Dynamo Kiev 2-0. Barca ended up in Group E 3 with a one-point deficit and missed the Round of 16 in the Champions League and will play in the Europa League next.
In the last 5 seasons of the Champions League, Barca's performance has not been ideal, especially the way they are out is very bad. In the 2017-2018 Champions League quarter-finals against Roma, Barca led 4-1 in the first leg and were reversed by their opponents. In the 2018-2019 Champions League semi-finals, Barca led 3-0 in the first leg, and the result was staged by Liverpool as an "Anfield miracle". In the 2019-2020 Champions League quarterfinals, Barca lost 2-8 to Bayern in a single game and ultimately missed the top 4. Playing Paris Saint-Germain in the first round of last season's knockout rounds, it was 2-5 on both legs and missed the quarter-finals.
This season with Bayern, Benfica, Dynamo Kiev, this was originally a good draw result, the difficulty of advancing to the round of 16 is not very difficult, but Barca's performance was disappointing, losing 0-3 in both legs against Bayern, facing Portuguese Super League side Benfica 1 draw and 1 loss, only to get two wins on Dynamo Kiev.
In the 6 Champions League group stages, Barca won 2 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses, scored 2 goals, conceded 9 goals, only got 7 points, and finally was overtaken by Benfica in the final round, watching Bayern and Benfica work together to advance to the Champions League knockout rounds.
Müller (right) clashes with Barca defender Pique. Photo: Xinhua News Agency
Benfica boss Jesus said in an interview: "We would not be able to qualify without Bayern's victory, thank them for helping us. Bayern star Müller, who scored the key goal this morning, admitted that Barca seems to be a bit out of step with the current trend of football, "It is undeniable that Barça's players are very good, but they cannot adapt to high-intensity confrontation, fast-paced offensive and defensive conversions, and we have grasped this weakness." ”
According to foreign media statistics, this is the second time that Barca has missed the Champions League group qualification after the 2000-2001 season. The Champions League season 21 years ago was divided into two stages of group stage and knockout stage, and Barça was out of the first group stage, 21 years later, Barça can only accept similar results.
For Barca's new boss Xavi, such a result him, We can only play in the Europa League, this is the current situation of the team, we have to accept this reality. In Xavi's view, he can only describe the Champions League group stage trip with "disappointment", "From now on, the team is going to enter a new stage, we have to try to bring Barca back to their rightful place, not the Champions League group stage out, into the Europa League." 」 ”
Beijing News reporter Xu Bangyin
Edited by Wang Chunqiu Proofreader Wang Xin