Barcelona star lionel Messi watched from the sideline as Bayern Munich completed their dismantling of the Spanish side with a 3-0 win on Wednesday, lining up the first all-German Champions league final against Borussia Dortmund.
With their all-time leading scorer out after he aggravated a right hamstring injury, Barcelona failed to seriously threaten Bayern’s goal — much less an epic comeback after their 4-0 first-leg defeat.
Bayern, meanwhile, humbled a team that has been the envy of European football for a second time in only nine days.
“I think it is a terrific performance, it is a little bit of history,” Bayern forward Arjen Robben said. “If we perform like this, against a team who have dominated Europe for the past five years, who have so much quality, it is amazing.”
After the visitors had toyed with Barcelona in the first half, Robben finally opened the scoring in the 49th minute before Barcelona’s Gerard Pique added an own goal in the 72nd. Thomas Mueller headed in Bayern’s third goal just four minutes later, as Barcelona slumped to first home loss since 2009.
Four-time winner Bayern will face Dortmund in the final on May 25 at Wembley Stadium.
Besides Messi, Barcelona were also without four other first-choice players. But the glaring truth is that even with several Spanish internationals on the pitch Bayern, were once again the better side.
And after this tie, it’s clear that the power has shifted away from Camp Nou further east.
Pique described it as one of his club’s “worst nights,” adding that even Messi wouldn’t have made a difference. “It isn’t pleasant living through a situation like this,” Pique said. “In the first half, we really tried but when they scored the first we were left feeling down. We have to congratulate Bayern who were superior.
While fellow Spanish side Real Madrid won 2-0 on Tuesday to almost reverse a 4-1 first-leg loss to Dortmund, Barcelona didn’t even come close and definitely didn’t bow out of Europe’s top-tier competition gracefully.
Instead, their second stinging defeat to the newly-crowned German champions will surely open a period of reflection in the club, despite being on course to win the Spanish league title. The Catalan side has been seriously outclassed for the first time since a trophy-laden era started in 2008 under the guidance of former coach Pep Guardiola, who will take over as Bayern coach next season.
Having failed to complete that last pass in the first 45 minutes, Bayern finally converted just after halftime when Robben received the ball on the right flank, cut back to his left to shake off Adriano, and curled one of his trademark left-footed shots over the outstretched Victor Valdes and into the far side of the net.
Bayern then pressed their advantage and quickly turned a win into humbling of Barcelona. Pique added to the home side’s misery when he kneed Frank Ribery’s cross into his own net in an attempt to clear. Mueller then netted his third goal of the series when Ribery picked him out at the far post to head home his cross over Valdes.