Bayern Munich humiliate hapless Barcelona 8-2; cruise to Champions League semis

By
Sayantan Sengupta
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Thomas Muller celebrates one of his two goals against Barceloana. (Picture courtesy: Evening Standard)

Lisbon: ‘Humiliation’. That’s the only word that could be said after Bayern Munich pumped in eight goals against Barcelona in the Champions League quarterfinals at Lisbon on Friday night. The Bundesliga champions had just had a child’s play against the Catalans.

Bayern were no doubt the pre-match favourites as they edge closer towards another treble after 2012-13. But against a side like Barcelona, everyone expected it would be a tough battle. Instead, it was just a cake-walk for the German side. 

Thomas Muller broke the deadlock in the fourth minute of the game before David Alaba scored an own goal three minutes later to make the scores even. It was 1-1 till the 20th minute when Ivan Perisic scored past Marc Andre Ter Stegan to give Bayern the lead. The goal feast has just begun. 

Sergi Gnabry scored the third on 27 minutes mark before Muller scored the fourth and his second four minutes later. After Luis Suarez reduced the margin on 57 minutes, it looked like Barcelona are on a road to recovery but all hopes were dashed when Joshua Kimmich scored the fifth for Bayern after a stupendous run from the young Alphonso Davies 63 minutes.

Then it was like breaking the broken. Phillipe Coutinho who is on loan to Bayern from Barcelona scored twice (85th, 89th) and assisted one for Robert Lewandowski (82nd) thus adding more humiliation for the Catalan side.

What went wrong for Barcelona?

Age was the biggest barrier, as the team was not up to the pace with this Bayern Munich side. High pressing from the Bayern forwards made it more and more difficult time and again for the Barca defence. The midfielders were shambolic as there was no distribution of passes through the middle or even through the wing. Messi was like a helpless man tonight. He was totally bottled by Davies.

Quique Setién’s strategy was not up to the mark. As he underestimated this Bayern side by playing short passes in the defence which was far from a crime. Bayern has speedy players in the upfront and grabbed the initiatives from Barca defence. It’s almost like goodbye for Setien as Barcelona manager.

This is the most humiliating defeat of the season for Barcelona. They were just outclassed in every department. It was like they were at a loss for ideas on the pitch and like it was an end of the era at Barcelona. Whereas in Germany it’s like a new dawn and that Bayern Munich is going to carry it forward in the days to come. Bayern next will face either Manchester City or Lyon in the semis but it seems like this Bayern will be difficult to stop.

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