Barcelona on Wednesday suffered a humilitating 0-3 loss at the hands of Bayern Munich in the Champions League Group C match, sealing its exit from the tournament.
Goals by Sadio Mane and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and a header by Benjamin Pavard saw Bayern take the top spot as the Group C winners with 15 points.
Inter Milan also reached the knockout stage after a 4-0 win against Viktoria Plzen earlier on Wednesday, showing Barcelona the way out in the group stage for the second year in a row. before its match with Bayern.
Ten minutes into the game, Mane scored after receiving a brilliant long pass from Serge Gnabry. Choupo-Moting's next goal, the sixth in the Champions League this season, helped Bayern double its score 21 minutes later. Joshua Kimmich passed to Gnabry who, from the edge of the box, set up Choupo-Moting for a clinical strike.
Barca's hope for a penalty after a clash between Dutch defender Matthijs de Ligt and Polish striker Robert Lewandowski, was lost by the VAR.
The Spanish team's efforts to save its face were also spoiled after Ansu Fati's injury-time effort was blocked by Sven Ulreich. The final goal for Bayern came in the form of Pavard's close-range strike from a corner.
"The way we won gives us a lot of energy. I don't think Barca were expecting us to be so bold. But you have to do that when you play against Barcelona," Bayern manager Julian Nagelsmann told DAZN. "We scored two lovely goals and added a third at the end. We defended with so much passion. The team made a statement tonight."
Barca, which won the Champions League title for the last time in 2015, reached the semi-finals only once in 2019. Last year, they were knocked out in the round of 16 by PSG in 2021.
Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid was also knocked out of the tournament after missing a stoppage-time penalty in their 2-2 draw against Bayer Leverkusen. Liverpool, however, managed to enter the knockout stage after a 3-0 victory over Ajax.
Atletico Madrid's dramatic exit came after Yannick Carrasco missed a late penalty which was awarded following a VAR check after the referee had already signalled the game was over. The 2-2 draw with Bayer Leverkusen meant that it was out since the team needed to win to avoid its first group-stage exit in five years.
As for Liverpool, goals by Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott sent the team to the next stage for the sixth season in a row.
