As expected, Barcelona were unable to pull off a shock in Germany and were destroyed by Bayern Munich again, which resulted in an early Champions League exit for them. For the first time in more than a decade, Barca will have to settle withEuropa League soccer.
While the Bundesliga giants put three past Barca at the Allianz Arena, Benficaās home victory against Dynamo Kyiv saw them overtake El Blaugrana in the Group E standings, which produced Barcelonaāsfirst Champions League group stage eliminationsince the 2000-01 season.
Shocking as it may sound, thesoccer community saw it coming from day one, when Barca were humilliated by Bayern at Camp Nou before Benfica handed them another 3-0 loss in Portugal. History repeated itself on Matchday 6, when the Bavarians confirmed their relegation to the continentās second tournament. To make things worse,Thomas Muller didnāt mince his words towards the Catalans.
Bayernās Thomas Muller blasts Barcelona afterChampions League frustration
Itās not only the fact that Barcelona are out of the Champions League before the knockout stages, itās the way in which they were eliminated so early. In both games against Bayern, Barcaās weaknesses werebrutally exposed byone of the continentās most powerful sides. While the Germans played like true contenders, Barcelonagave the impression theyāre not up to these kinds of games.
Players donāt often make this kind of comments, though, to respect their rivals regardless of how much they struggle. But Thomas Muller didnāt carespeaking his mind, taking a huge shot at Barcelona after another comfortable win for Bayern.
āWe really tried to get the intensity into the game because I think weāre really massively different to Barcelona, at least in their current state, because of that intensity,ā Muller told UEFA.com following his teamās victory.
āI donāt think they can cope with that intensity. Technically they have it all and they have some really good players, thereās no question about that, but we can deliver this intensity both in possession and out of possession. I donāt think they can cope with the intensity in top-level football.
āI think the difference was certainly very clear, especially in the second half,ā Muller continued. āWe should have scored more goals, but weāre happy. Barcelona are still a big name in the football world, so to beat them 3-0 twice ā in Barcelona and again at home ā is still satisfying.ā
To be fair, we canāt say that Muller is lying. What he said itās probably what the entire world soccer believes right now. Then again, players donāt usually say these things about other teams, so his words have obviously made noise despite how many peoplemay agree with him.





