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Football

Barcelona Exits Champions League After Disappointing Loss to Bayern Munich

Barcelona’s latest Champions League campaign was pretty catastrophic, and their latest face-off with Bayern Munich sealed their fate. They are set to exit the Champions League and be relegated to the Europa League after losing to Bayern on Wednesday night. Barca players already knew that relegation is looming on the horizon, and they didn’t really put up a fight at Camp Nou. Bayern cruised to an easy 3-0 win thanks to the goals scored by Sadio Mane and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting in the first half, plus Benjamin Pavard’s finisher in stoppage time. Barcelona’s manager Xavi, who took over the club in 2021, was placing blame for Barca’s loss in all sorts of different places – from Bayern’s domination to the strength of Group C they were placed in. "We have to face the reality. I already said that we have to grow little by little and today there were good things. Today we did not compete on their level… Just as we were better in Munich and we should have won, today they were better,” said Xavi post-match. Following the summer or risky spending, relegation to the Europa League is not good news for Barcelona. After dropping down to the Europa League for the second season running, Barcelona will now have to qualify for the round of 16 via a playoff match.