Barcelona find new levels of humiliation. This Champions League elimination wasn’t an 8-2 or one of those collapses, but it was a first group-stage elimination since 2001.
Far from a vision of how to play the game, they are the ultimate image of an empire that has crumbled. You could say this 3-0 win was another illustration of Bayern Munich’s own power as they secured a 100% record from the group, but they didn’t have to reach such heights. It was all so easy for the German champions, as they seemed to get through Barcelona with every single attack.
Almost the worst thing about it was how it never felt like they had any chance at all. That was even before Benfica basically ended any tension on the evening by going ahead against Dynamo Kyiv before the 20th minute of the other match.
This defeat, and elimination, was of course down to so much more than what actually happened on the night. There were the ghosts of many bad Barca defeats to Bayern within it, after all.
It is the latest consequence of a long decline, and a series of bad decisions taken at every turn.
