The beginning of the end: Munich striker Sadio Mané beats goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen to make it 1-0.
Photo: AFP/Pau Barrena
The walk to his former teammates in the Bayern dressing room after the game should not have been easy for Robert Lewandowski. The frustration after the 0:3 defeat of FC Barcelona was too deep. All in all, things have been going well for Lewandowsky since his move to the Catalan metropolis, which he forced against the will of FC Bayern Munich. Ahead of the home game on October 26 at the 84,016-packed Camp Nou, Lewandowski had scored five times in four games in the Champions League and 12 times in 11 in the league.
But whenever Lewandowski doesn’t score, Barça gets into trouble. Whether in the Clásico against Real Madrid, at the start against Rayo Vallecano in the Spanish league or in the Champions League at Inter Milan and Bayern Munich. No Lewandowski goals have meant defeats so far this season, with the exception of a goalless draw at Rayo and a 1-0 draw at Celta Vigo. This series continued on Wednesday evening. Not a goal from Lewandowksi, who was unable to assert himself against Bayern central defense de Ligt and Upamecano, not a single shot on goal found its way into the goal of substitute keeper Sven Ulreich. Lewandowski’s most notable scene was a fall in the penalty area just before the end of the first half, which was followed by a penalty whistle, which England referee Anthony Taylor took back after looking at the pictures at the suggestion of the VAR assistant referee. The result was Uefa mafia chants from the stands, the chance of a connecting goal before the break was a thing of the past and in the end the Camp Nou scoreboard read: 0:3. Exactly the same result as a year ago in the group stage.
Lewandowski’s five goals were not enough to qualify for the Champions League round of 16 in February 2023. A hat-trick against Vikoria Pilsen, a double in the 3-3 win over Inter Milan are three games without a goal. Lewandowski was unlucky and goalless in both games against his former Bayern Munich team-mates. Had he missed the best chances in the first leg in Munich, which was explained by overzealousness in view of the difficult emotional return after eight successful years at Bayern, he didn’t have any significant chances in the second leg. He did not get more than blocked shots. What applied to Lewandowski also applied to his neighbors. Not a single shot found its way into Sven Ulreich’s goal, and an attentive defender always got his foot in the way.
Bayern closed in at the back and coldly struck at the front after no-frills attacks. First, after just ten minutes, Sadio Mané used a diagonal pass from Serge Gnabry to put Bayern in the lead after a diagonal sprint followed by a lob over German national goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen. After half an hour, Bayern followed suit, a quick counterattack initiated by Jamal Musiala’s pass found its way via Gnabry to Lewandowski’s replacement Eric Maxim Choupo Moting and the Cameroonian continued his run from the Bundesliga in the Champions League and tunnelled the Barça goalkeeper . That was the preliminary decision. Pavard’s goal following a corner in added time to make it 3-0 was only of cosmetic value.
Barça coach Xavi, who found himself in the crossfire of criticism for the first time after the 3-1 draw at Real Madrid on October 16, relied on a strengthened midfield against Bayern, as he did on Sunday in the 4-0 win over Athletic Bilbao, with the goal , so to get control of the game in midfield against Bayern, who are known to be strong players. The 19-year-old midfield director Petri played on the nominal left wing again, in attack next to center forward Lewandowski on right wing Ousmane Dembélé, who was the outstanding player at the Camp Nou on Sunday with one goal and three assists.
Xavi’s plan to force Bayern to play their own game with four midfielders didn’t work out. Bayern was more venomous in duels and repeatedly caused problems for Barcelona’s defense with high pressing and quick switching football.
Before the season, Xavi had given the goal of competitiveness in all competitions – explicitly also in the Champions League, where Barça missed the round of 16 for the first time in 17 years last season. No chance in the group with 2: 9 goals and, among other things, two 0: 3 bankruptcies against Bayern Munich, who were group opponents again in the second year after Messi and Messi himself at 8: 2 in Lisbon in the Champions League quarter-finals 2020 his biggest slap in the Teach Barça jersey.
FC Barcelona didn’t have a chance in 2023, but it wasn’t enough. This was due to a mixture of bad luck with injuries, blatant individual mistakes and one or the other questionable referee decision. All in all, it was too much for the rebuilding team, the Xavineta, as the future project named after the coach is called. Xavi didn’t want to speak of a clear failure like Petri, but made no secret of his disappointment: »We had high expectations, the group was obviously complicated and everything went against us. But we weren’t competitive tonight.« Now the focus is on the Spanish league, where a difficult away game in Valencia is on Saturday, the third to last league game before the long World Cup break from mid-November to the end of December. Three points behind arch-rivals Real Madrid, everything is still possible in the league when 2023 enters the decisive months of the season. In Europe, Barça then only plays second-rate in the Europa League. The Champions League knockout stage will have to wait at least another year – having been achieved 17 years in a row in the Messi era. Tempi passati.
