Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez vowed to return the Spanish giants to the pinnacle of European soccer after they crashed out of the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday with a 3-0 defeat at Bayern Munich.
Five-time European champions Barcelona failed to reach the last 16 of the competition for the first time in 18 years.
Goals by Thomas Mueller and Leroy Sane gave Bayern a 2-0 halftime cushion in falling snow at the Allianz Arena, which was devoid of spectators due to a high number of COVID-19 cases in Bavaria.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Teenager Jamal Musiala grabbed Bayern’s third goal after the break to seal Barcelona’s fate.
“I’m angry. I don’t like that this is our reality now. We start a new era from here — to work hard and get back in the Champions League,” Xavi said.
Bayern had qualified for the knockout stages as Group E winners. They join Liverpool and Ajax with a perfect record of six victories from six games in the group stage.
However, for the first time since the 2003-2004 season, Barcelona are not to be in the draw for the last 16.
SL Benfica’s 2-0 win at home to Dynamo Kiev means that Barcelona finish third and drop into the UEFA Europa League.
It was almost eight years to the day since Bayern lost a home Champions League game in the group phase, and the Bundesliga leaders were in no mood to be generous.
Xavi, 41, who took charge of struggling Barcelona four weeks ago, has had back-to-back defeats after his first loss as head coach against Real Betis Balompie last weekend.
“We start from scratch. Unfortunately, we are in the Europa League, which is not the place for us,” Xavi said. “We will work hard to put Barcelona back in the right place. We have many things to correct.”
“We need to win the Europa League and recover the points in La Liga,” Xavi said. “We have had some injuries, maybe we can sign some more players, but we start from zero.”
Bayern were not even at full strength. With Joshua Kimmich quarantining after testing positive for COVID-19 and Leon Goretzka injured, 18-year-old Musiala played out of position alongside Corentin Tolisso in defensive midfield.
After the final whistle, Mueller backed Xavi to turn Barcelona around.
“When you look at the [Barcelona] team, they are good players, they have everything they need,” Mueller said. “We know things aren’t going so well behind the scenes and I had the feeling they couldn’t find the intensity they needed, which helped our cause.”
Lin Yun-ju on Thursday handed Taiwan two key victories as they advanced to the semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. The Taiwan men’s table tennis team beat Sweden 3-2 in five singles matches. The 24-year-old Lin, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7 and nicknamed the “Silent Assassin,” opened the tie by defeating world No. 2 Truls Moregard 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) before clinching the deciding fifth match with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Anton Kallberg to hand his team the overall victory. Kuo Guan-hong put Taiwan up 2-0 with a 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11,
Marta Kostyuk’s maiden WTA 1000 title in Madrid came on Saturday thanks to her power, poise and a pair of unexpected lucky shorts. The world No. 23 beat eighth-ranked Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 7-5 in under 90 minutes to secure the most prestigious trophy of her career, her third professional singles title and second in less than a month after Rouen. Yet as the 23-year-old Ukrainian posed for photographs at the Caja Magica, it was not just the silverware that caught the eye. Held alongside her team and her two dogs, Kostyuk showed off a piece of black men’s underwear, prompting
Arsenal stormed six points clear at the top of the English Premier League as Bukayo Saka and Viktor Gyokeres put Fulham to the sword in a 3-0 win, while West Ham United’s defeat at Brentford offered Tottenham Hotspur a lifeline in the battle for survival. The Gunners have stumbled toward the finish line in their quest for a first league title in 22 years, blowing a sizeable lead over Manchester City in a series of nervous displays. However, the return of Saka, making his first start in six weeks, freed up Mikel Arteta’s men in a dominant performance that shrugged
Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday said that she hoped she would be able to play tennis under the Belarusian flag after the International Olympic Committee lifted its ban on the country’s athletes competing in the Olympics. World No. 1 Sabalenka has had to compete under a neutral banner as a consequence of her country’s support for Russia following its ally’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The IOC earlier on Thursday lifted its ban on Belarusian athletes competing in the Olympics, although restrictions on Russian athletes remain in place. Asked whether the women’s tour would drop the ban on her representing her country, Sabalenka said:
RSS