Among the teams expected to do well in the UEFA Champions League in the 2022-23 season wereBarcelona. Having spent over €150 million on improving their roster during the summer, they seemed set to challenge the greatest teams in the league.
However, as a result oftheir poor performance, they were eliminated from the tournament in the Group Stage after finishing third in their group.A 3-0 defeat to Bayernat home at the Camp Nou finished off an already dismal UCL campaign.
The humiliation of consecutive eliminations from the topEuropean tournament will be especially hard on a team with the stature of the Blaugrana. Nonetheless, theirprecarious financial status means that the consequences of a premature exit from the tournament are equally significant.
The reason whyJoshua Kimmich’s’imitated’Pedri’s celebration
Barcelona players saw their Champions League run come to an end from under the stands, before running out onto the field to show why they were so disappointed. They were already out of the competition before the game started, and they saw their last glimmer of hope evaporate as Inter defeated Viktoria Plzen earlier.
They didn’t get to enjoy themselves at all before saying goodbye, and they didn’t leave behind much of a legacy. Instead, they tooka 3-0 loss to Bayern to crash into the Europa League with their sixth consecutive defeatto the Bavarians.Even though many home fans started departing well before the final whistle, a dedicated few stayed and cheered as their team returned to the field after a disappointing loss. Meanwhile, on the other side of the pitch, Bayern fans were greeting and applauding their fans who traveled to Spain.
It was then when Munich’s midfielderJoshua Kimmich was seen ‘imitating’ Pedri‘s celebration cupping his hands in the form of glasses.The latter is well-known for his unique goal celebration, which resembles a pair of goggles. “The glasses celebration is a dedication to my father – he instilled a great love for football in me,” the teenagerwas quoted as saying in an interview with COPE in September.
The gesture received a lot of attention on the internet, with some users speculating that Kimmich was making fun of the 19-year-old to add insult to injury. However, as can be pointed out online,the German international was notridiculing Pedri.
While he was celebrating his win, he was acknowledgingthe travelingBayern supporters in the upper deck of the stadium.Many other players, like Sergio Ramos, Andy Robertson, and even Joshua Kimmich himself in the past, share the enthusiasm for this particular celebration.