21-year-long campaign of Barcelona to reach the knockout stages of the Champions League football competition came to an end with a 3-0 loss to Bayern Munich on Wednesday. Five-time European champions Barcelona thus finished third in Group E behind Bayern and Benfica. Benfica defeated Dynamo Kyiv 2–0 to secure a place in the last 16 of the Champions League.
“We start a new era from here,” said Xavi Hernandez, who took over as Barcelona coach last month. Bayern won all their six matches of the Champions League group stage, while Benfica took a win over Dynamo Kyiv to take their points tally to eight, one point more than Barcelona. The Blaugrana will have to settle for the Europa League after the new year following elimination from the Champions League group stage for the first time in 21 years. It is worthy to note that this is the first season that Barca has been playing without their star player Lionel Messi who moved to Paris Saint Germain earlier this year in August.
Another Spanish club, Sevilla, also failed to make it to the knockouts. All four teams in Group G had a chance to advance but Lille beat Wolfsburg 3–1 while Salzburg beat Sevilla 1–0 to make it to the last 16 and Sevilla finished third.
Defending champions Chelsea and Juventus from Group H had already made it to the knockouts. There was a competition between these two to be on top of the group. Chelsea was held to a 3-3 draw by Russia’s Zenit Saint Petersburg club, while Juventus beat Malmö 1-0 to take first place.
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