Barcelona out of Champions League, lose to merciless Bayern
Goals by Sadio Mane, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Benjamin Pavard earned Bayern Munich a 3-0 win at already-eliminated Barcelona on Wednesday (October 26) as the German giants clinched a spot in the Champions League round of 16 as group winners.
Bayern top Group C on 15 points, five ahead of Inter Milan who also reached the knockout stage after a 4-0 win against Viktoria Plzen earlier on Wednesday, a result that eliminated Barcelona in the group stage for the second year in a row.
Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez said his team needed to leave their Champions League disappointment behind them as soon as possible and focus on improving their game in order to compete for the LaLiga and Europa League titles.
"If there is failure, there is learning, and we must learn," Xavi Hernandez told a press conference at Camp Nou after the match.
Since winning the Champions League title for the last time in 2015, Barca have reached the semi-finals only once, in 2019. They lost 8-2 to Bayern in the 2020 quarter-finals, were knocked out in the round of 16 by PSG in 2021, and failed to make it past the group stage in the last two editions.
Last year, Barca's exit at the group stage came after the departure of Lionel Messi to Paris St Germain and the financial crisis that led to the resignation of the entire club board.
