A predictable end to Barça’s Champions League journey
Barcelona finished the Champions League group stage in painful fashion and will play in the Europa League for the rest of the season thanks to a 3-0 loss to Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena. Bayern never needed to get out of third gear to utterly dismantle a Barça team that tried to compete but never came close to bothering the German champions, and Xavi’s troops are out of Europe’s top competition.
FIRST HALF
Barça made a solid start to the game, taking it to Bayern with high pressing and plenty of intensity, but the Bavarians quickly began to find spaces in behind Barça’s high line and started to create danger.
The Blaugrana had one real chance on the counter-attack with a shot by Ousmane Dembélé from just inside the box, but the Frenchman missed the target completely. After a solid 15 minutes Barça could no longer control the game and saw Bayern dominate possession and start to create some real opportunities.
Thomas Müller was the most dangerous player in the first half and he was rewarded with the opening goal after an excellent cross by Robert Lewandowski, despite Ronald Araujo’s best efforts to clear Müller’s header off the line. 10 minutes later, Leroy Sané fired a rocket from outside the box that went straight at Marc-André ter Stegen, but the German keeper somehow let it go past him and into the net.
At halftime, Bayern were up two goals and could have scored at least two more. With Benfica winning in Lisbon, Barça’s fate was already sealed before the second half even started and the final period would be about nothing but pride.
SECOND HALF
Nothing changed in the second half: Barça continued to try and attack without much success, and Bayern got everything they wanted whenever they had the ball. Sané missed a golden chance just two yards away from goal just five minutes into the period, and 10 minutes later Jamal Musiala made it 3-0 with a tap-in after a great run and assist by Alphonso Davies.
Nothing happened for the rest of the game as both teams seemed pretty content with the result as it was, and the final whistle eventually came to end Barça’s Champions League journey for the season. The Blaugrana are now moving on to the Europa League Playoffs and will have to wait for the draw to find out their opponent.
It’s hard to be surprised by this result or the way the game went. Bayern are too good and Barça are not even close to their level. It could have been much worse so that’s good, I guess?
Bayern: Neuer; Pavard, Upamecano, Süle (Nianzou 78’), Davies (Richards 71’); Musiala, Tolisso (Roca 60’); Coman (Sarr 71’), Müller, Sané; Lewandowski (Tillman 78’)
Goals: Müller (34’), Sané (43’), Musiala (62’)
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Araujo, Piqué, Lenglet, Alba (Mingueza 30’); De Jong (Puig 73’), Busquets; Dest (Nico 46’), Gavi (Demir 86’), Dembélé (Coutinho 73’); Memphis
Goals: None
from Barca Blaugranes - All Posts https://ift.tt/3GqNh1T
0 التعليقات:
إرسال تعليق