Izuchukwu Okosi
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Barcelona failed to reach the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League for the first time in 18 years Wednesday night as they fell to a 3-0 defeat against new nemesis Bayern Munich.
The memory of Barcelona crashing out of the competition will linger for a very long time as goals from Thomas Mueller and Leroy Sane gave Bayern a 2-0 half-time cushion in falling snow at the Allianz Arena.
There were no spectators to behold the shame of the Blaugrana due to high numbers of Covid-19 cases in Bavaria.
Teenager Jamal Musiala grabbed Bayern’s third in the second half to seal Barcelona’s fate.
Bayern, who also beat Barca 3-0 at the Camp Nou when the sides met last September, had already qualified for the knock-out stages as Group E winners.
They now join Liverpool and Ajax with a perfect six victories from six games in the group stage.
However, for the first time since the 2003/04 season, Barcelona will not be in the draw for the last 16. The 2021/2022 round of 16 Champions League draw comes up next week Monday.
Benfica’s 2-0 win at home to Dynamo Kiev means Barcelona finish third and drop to the Europa League.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
