Bayern of Champions: chronicle, result and goals

It was supposed to be the Champions of the renaissance and it ended up being a viacrucis, a real torture, with Barça paying for its sins at the hands of the European inquisition, where you get nothing for free. No, the referees haven’t helped, but a single point in four games against Inter and Bayern can’t be explained by one blow of the whistle. The season of banners and levers has not escaped the tragic fate of recent years in the Champions League, the competition that everyone dreams of again and where every year the heart of Barcelona ends up broken into a thousand pieces, as if it were made of glass, too fragile. Neither Lewandowski’s muscles, nor Xavi’s ideas, nor Laporta’s signings have been useful in a competition in which Barça walks its endless recumbency, remembering what it was and cannot be again. Everyone in the club wanted to touch the sky with their hands too fast and, like Icarus, got burned for wanting to fly too high. He needs time and patience, at Barça, to be great. He has had neither, in a Champions League turned into torture that ended with half the stadium cheering, in an act of faith, and others whistling and marching home. The fans have had enough patience.

No miracle in the Inter field

From placing a candle praying for a Czech miracle, it happened to an Ash Wednesday. Xavi has lost some of the charm of the first few weeks, unable to find the key to defeat Inter and Bayer even once. The European wound will leave a scar on a team that, luckily, is still alive in the League. But it is precisely in Europe where Barça have received the most blows and where they need to raise their heads, on the most global stage. And every year history repeats itself, receiving bravely at the hands of a Bayern turned into the monster that does not let the Barcelona fans sleep. Of the 15 times that the two clubs have met, the Bavarians have won eleven times, and Barça, just twice. In fact, Bayern played more than Barça in the match. Inter’s victory forced Nagelsmann’s team to score to be first in the group, while Barça, already eliminated, had to take advantage of the game to defeat their ghost. Making the last Champions League match at the Camp Nou in years, since next season it will be up to Montjuïc, a speech announcing better times. Fire again, scoring at least one hit on the Germans. Not like that. Too accelerated, emotionally hurt, Barça failed the one fans where the cheering stands ended up united in brotherhood with the footballers after the defeat. Most of the stands, however, were already empty.

The Champions League has ended up being a dashed hope. It will have to wait to be grown up again. The illusion was so great, that Barça has ended up running into a wall of reality in a group where they have had no luck, either. The duel against Bayern also saw a team too fast, too nervous, unable to add points against the Bavarians and score them a goal in 180 minutes. Barça slowly bid farewell, without saying anything, to the Champions League, and went into exile. Xavi’s team, with Dembélé and Pedri accompanying Lewandowski in attack, offered a recital of individual mistakes. The formula that served to defeat Athletic, with De Jong and Busquets, together, did not even serve to scratch a Bayern that after 10 minutes already took advantage of the back of a Bellerín converted to right back to score thanks to healthy Choupo-Moting would make the second soon after in another mistake from a somewhat kamikaze defense. In the other goal, Bayern punished their top scorer in history, Lewandowski. Every foul they gave him, every duel won, was accompanied by sly glances, as if they were asking him if it was worth leaving them to finish in the Europa League just starting. When De Ligt’s penalty on the Pole was whistled before the break, the VAR discovered that the defender had touched the ball earlier. It seemed like a bad joke.

A farewell to the Champions League too frustrating

Pedri looks too tired and Kessie can’t forget a Gavi who hasn’t recovered from the blow he received last Sunday. It was a soft Barça that didn’t know how to raise its head when the changes came. Nor did Ansu’s light shine. Ferran, nothing at all. And with Dembélé it came out cross. This is how the Frenchman is, a man of extremes who did not side with either the right or the left. It was the farewell to the Champions League, but Barça did not know how to leave with their heads held high. Not even close. If in Bavaria he had played better than Bayern, only to end up losing, he did not leave the Camp Nou, distressed, aware of everything he has lost. Of everything that will not be able to be this season. And Bayern, cruel, was puncturing with counters, and scored a third goal in the last second thanks to Pavard, the final epitaph of a European adventure to forget. The Champions, so beloved, the competition where everyone, from the box office to the bars, dreamed, continues to hurt a project that is not yet mature. He will have to learn the hard way, at Barça. Suffering disappointments. The Champions League has replaced a Barça condemned to exile from the Europa League.