The fall of football giants

Barcelona’s misery on the field continues as they suffered a humiliating exit from the first round of the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday.

Five-time European champions were eliminated in the group stages for the first time in 21 years as the reigning German champions thrashed them 3-0 in an empty Allianz Arena.

Goals by Thomas Mueller and Leroy Sane gave Bayern a 2-0 half-time cushion in falling snow whereas Teenager Jamal Musiala grabbed his side’s third to seal Barcelona’s fate.

Despite the disappointment, newly appointed head coach of Barcelona Xavi Hernandez vowed to return the Spanish giants to the pinnacle of European football once again.

“I’m angry,” said Xavi. “I don’t like that this is our reality now. We start a new era from here – to work hard and get back in the Champions League.”

Bayern, who also beat Barca 3-0 at the Camp Nou when the sides met in 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.

Benfica’s 2-0 win at home to Dynamo Kiev means Barcelona finish third and drop into the Europa League.

It was almost eight years to the day since Bayern lost a home Champions League game in the group phase and the Bundesliga leaders were in no mood to be generous.

Xavi, 41, who took charge of struggling Barcelona four weeks ago, has now suffered back-to-back defeats after his first loss as head coach against Real Betis last weekend.

“We start from scratch. Unfortunately, we are in the Europa League, which is not the place for us,” insisted Xavi.

“We will work hard to put Barcelona back in the right place. We have many things to correct.

“We need to win the Europa League and recover the points in the Spanish league.

“We have had some injuries, maybe we can sign some more players, but we start from zero.”

Sane screamer

Bayern were not even at full strength.

With Joshua Kimmich quarantining after a positive Covid test and Leon Goretzka injured, 18-year-old Musiala played out of position alongside Corentin Tolisso in defensive midfield.

Barcelona made a bright start but faded after losing Jordi Alba to injury with half an hour gone, just before Mueller headed Bayern into the lead.

Robert Lewandowski found space on the left of the box and flicked a pass to Mueller who claimed his 50th Champions League goal with a header.

It was a double blow to the Barca bench who had just learnt Benfica were 2-0 up against Dynamo in Lisbon.

Things went from bad to worse for the Spanish giants when Sane hit the net with a powerful long-range shot that deceived Ter Stegen.

Sane should have put the result beyond doubt when Bayern attacked just after the break.

Instead of tapping the ball into the empty net, he poked the ball into Ter Stegen’s grateful arms.

Alphonso Davies, who also ran Barcelona ragged in Bayern’s historic 8-2 drubbing in the 2020 quarter-finals, again caused havoc down the left flank.

The quicksilver Canadian created Bayern’s third when he pulled the ball back for Musiala to tap home from close range on 62 minutes.

With 20 minutes left and the contest effectively over, Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann started taking off first-choice players.

First to go were wingers Davies and Kingsley Coman.

Then followed star striker Lewandowski and centre-back Niklas Suele, yet Barcelona could not threaten Manuel Neuer in the Bayern goal.

After the final whistle, Mueller backed Xavi to turn Barcelona around.

“When you look at the (Barcelona) team, they are good players, they have everything they need,” said Mueller.

“We know things aren’t going so well behind the scenes and I had the feeling they couldn’t find the intensity they needed, which helped our cause.”

Sevilla join Barca

In contrast, Lille are through to the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in 15 years after beating Wolfsburg 3-1 in Germany to top Group G.

Burak Yilmaz gave Lille an early lead and Canadian striker Jonathan David made it 2-0 in the 72nd minute before Angel Gomes got their third. Meanwhile, Renato Steffen got a late consolation.

Salzburg, Austrian champions in each of the last eight seasons, also progressed thanks to a 1-0 win over Sevilla, with Noah Okafor scoring the only goal before the Spaniards had Joan Jordan sent off.

It is the first time Salzburg have reached the knockout phase, while Sevilla join the likes of Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund in the Europa League — that may suit them given they have won that trophy or its predecessor the UEFA Cup a record six times, all since 2006.

Juve snatch first place

Last season’s winners Chelsea had already qualified for the last 16 and were on course to top Group H as they led 3-2 away to Zenit going into injury time.

But then Magomed Ozdoev’s stunning strike earned Zenit a 3-3 draw, allowing Juventus to snatch first place as Moise Kean’s goal gave them a 1-0 win against Malmo.

Timo Werner had tapped in to put Chelsea ahead in the second minute, but Claudinho and Sardar Azmoun both scored before the break for Zenit.

Romelu Lukaku’s first goal in nearly three months made it 2-2, and Werner’s second of the night looked to have won it for Chelsea before Ozdoev struck.

“My analysis is very clear: our behaviour changes when we have a lead and this is something we never did and we should never do,” said Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel, whose team twice squandered an advantage to lose 3-2 at West Ham United last weekend.

Atalanta’s game against Villarreal in Group F was postponed due to snow in Bergamo and was rescheduled for Thursday at 1800 GMT, with the Italians having to win to pip their visitors to second place in the group.

Group winners Manchester United drew 1-1 at home to Young Boys, with Mason Greenwood’s acrobatic effort putting Ralf Rangnick’s side ahead before Fabian Rieder equalised.