Spanish giants face yet another European embarrassment – RT Sport News

Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez has come to terms with his side not being on the same level as continental heavyweights such as Bayern Munich after the Bavarians beat them 3-0 at Camp Nou in the Champions League.

The Catalans already knew their fate before kick-off, with Inter Milan’s 4-0 win at home to Viktoria Plzen elsewhere in Group C meaning Barcelona had no chance of reaching the round of 16 and would be sentenced to the second-tier UEFA Europa League for a current second season.

Against the German champions, Barca were playing for pride but were edged out by a Bayern side who have beaten them six times in recent years.

« Today we didn’t reach their level, they were better » Xavi confessed.

« In Munich it was us, but today they were better, more intense. The elimination affected us psychologically. Tomorrow we train and think about La Liga.

“There were high expectations, we had a difficult group. Everything that was possible happened to us. It was very cruel. We didn’t do well today.

« I understand that from the outside we talk about failure, but inside we make different analyses », Xavi conceded.

“The first thing is our mistakes, which we haven’t been up to par because of efficiency or mistakes. The way we walked out of the competition, waiting for a match to end, is also cruel. If we analyze the other matches, I think we deserved better.

Barca’s last win against the Bundesliga giants was a 3-0 victory in 2015 which helped them qualify for the final that year when they last lifted the trophy.

But while rivals like Real Madrid have won the Champions League four times since then, and Bayern once in 2020 when they beat Barca 8-2 in the quarter-finals, that most recent defeat was a another red flag for Barça.

Despite activating a series of ‘economic levers’ and spending more than 150 million euros ($151 million) on new players last summer, they are clearly still a long way from returning to the top flight. European.

It was a bad night for Spain on the continent in general, as Atletico Madrid joined Barca and Sevilla in failing to make it out of the group.

Atletico, who were runners-up in 2014 and 2016, will move on to the Europa League after a 2-2 draw with Bayer Leverkusen in Madrid.

The hosts missed a 99th-minute penalty and fired a rebound off the crossbar, before another effort was accidentally stopped by the heels of penalty taker Yannick Carrasco.

With Atleti third in the group on five points and Leverkusen fourth on four, nothing is certain for Diego Simeone’s men, who still have work to do against Porto next week as Leverkusen take on Club Brugge.

In Belgium, outperforming Group B leaders Brugge, who were arguably the competition’s biggest surprise, lost 4-0 at home to Porto.

In London, Tottenham Hotspur are still top of Group D after drawing 1-1 with Sporting Lisbon and taking their tally to eight points.

The Portuguese club are second on seven points, but with Europa League winners Eintracht Frankfurt third on seven points and Marseille fourth on six points, there is still a lot to play for.

Group A is already decided and the two leaders Napoli and Liverpool have both won 3-0.

The Italians had theirs at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona against Rangers, and the Merseysiders at the expense of Ajax at the Johan Cruyff Arena.