The game hadn’t even kicked off yet and Barcelona had already lost.
Barcelona was eliminated in the group stage of the Champions League for the second consecutive season on Thursday (AEDT), with the result of its home game against Bayern Munich proving meaningless after Inter Milan defeated Viktoria Plzen in the earlier game.
Barcelona needed Inter to drop points, so it began its match at Camp Nou already out of contention as Bayern and Inter secured the top two places in Group C.
Watch Erling Haaland, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe in the 2022-23 UEFA Champions League, streaming ad-free, live and exclusive on Stan Sport
Barcelona will finish third and earn a Europa League berth.
Bayern had already advanced.
It is yet another humbling setback for the Catalan club, and one that will likely prove costlier than last season as the team went on a spending spree to boost its squad in the hope of recovering some of that money with a deep run in the European competition.
READ MORE: Legend shreds Rinehart as netball fiasco turns ugly
READ MORE: Griffin sacking promised to two Dragons players
READ MORE: Record-shattering Stoinis blitz powers Aussie win
The team coached by Xavi Hernandez came up short again despite the addition of players such as Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Jules Kounde in the offseason.
It is the first time since 1999 that the Catalan club failed to advance to the knockout stage in consecutive years, coinciding with the departure of Lionel Messi to Paris Saint-Germain two seasons ago.
Last year, Barcelona endured its worst Champions League campaign in about two decades, finishing behind Bayern and Benfica in its group while going through a dire financial situation in the aftermath of Messi’s departure.
Italian football expert Nicky Bandini looks at Napoli’s incredible start to the season, while Craig Foster and Mark Bosnich chat Cristiano Ronaldo and Ange Postecoglou
This time, Barcelona didn’t even stay in contention into the final round of the group stage.
After opening with a 5-1 win against Plzen at home, Barcelona lost 2-0 at Bayern and 1-0 at Inter.
A 3-3 draw at home against Inter then meant it needed the Italian team to stumble in its final matches.
The home draw with Inter was followed by a 3-1 loss to rival Real Madrid in the first “clasico” of the season in the Spanish league.
Barcelona has won nine of its 11 league matches but trails Madrid by three points at the top.
Barcelona – who ended up losing 3-0 to Bayern on Thursday – will now be consigned to the second-tier Europa League, having lost in the quarterfinals of that competition last season to eventual champion Eintracht Frankfurt.
Barcelona couldn’t get a single shot on target against Bayern and it has won only one of its last seven Champions League matches.
“This was very embarrassing,” Semra Hunter said on Stan Sport.
“(Sergio) Busquets was booed as he came off the park and that was a very sad way for him to go. They’re just not good enough at the moment.”
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here
The player to watch from each nation at the 2022 FIFA World Cup
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.