Barcelona crash out of Champions League, Benfica advance to round of 16

For the first time in 20 years, Barcelona will not feature in the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League. The Catalans’ 3-0 loss to Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena and Lisbon-based Benfica’s win in their last group match, ensured Xavi and company’s fate in the European competition. 

Barcelona will be one of the biggest teams in the Europa League next year. They finished third in the Group E with seven points, one short of Benfica. 

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For the Camp Nou-based club, the group stage began with a 3-0 loss to Bayern and got worse with a 3-0 defeat and 0-0 draw against Benfica. Barcelona scored only two goals in six games, both against last-place Dynamo, and conceded nine.

The Catalans failed to make the Champions League last 16 in 2003-04.

Their defeat in snow comes months after talisman Lionel Messi took a flight for Paris. It reflects on the already overwhelming financial problems as it misses out on lucrative prize money and exposure for sponsors.

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Germany’s Thomas Mueller opened the scoring for Bayern in the 34th minute with a looping header. The second was a simple goalkeeping error as Marc-André ter Stegen got a hand to Leroy Sané’s speculative long-range shot, only for it to go through his fingers. In the 62nd minute Canadian left-back  Jamal Musiala sealed the game with a simple touch from within a crowd of Barcelona players. 

Besides the shock of not qualifying, Barcelona may have to deal with an injury for Jordi Alba after the full-back limped off with an apparent thigh problem.

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Meanwhile, Roman Yaremchuk and Gilberto scored first-half goals to give Benfica a win against Dynamo Kyiv at the Estádio da Luz. 

Benfica did not make it to the group stage last season, and two years ago was eliminated before the knockout stages for a third consecutive time. In 2016-17, the two-time European champions were eliminated by Borussia Dortmund in the last 16.

With inputs from the Associated Press