Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez promised to return the Spanish giants to European football’s top after they were knocked out of the Champions League by Bayern Munich 3-0 on Wednesday.
For the first time in 21 years, five-time European winners Barcelona were eliminated in the group stages. Since 2003-04, when they did not qualify for the competition at all, they had reached the final 16 in every season.
Bayern Munich led 2-0 at halftime thanks to goals from Thomas Mueller and Leroy Sane under falling snow at the Allianz Arena, which was barren of fans because to the high number of Covid-19 cases in Bavaria.
After the break, teen Jamal Musiala scored Bayern’s third goal to clinch Barcelona’s fate.
“I’m enraged. I don’t like the fact that this is now our reality. From here, we will embark on a new age of hard effort in order to return to the Champions League “Xavi stated.
Bayern had already qualified for the knockout stages as Group E winners, having defeated Barca 3-0 at the Camp Nou in September.
They’ve now joined Liverpool and Ajax in the group stage with a perfect six wins from six games.
