…Barca’s Pique, calls for wholesale changes after “shameful” defeat***
German champions Bayern Munich utterly humiliated FC Barcelona with a stunning 8-2 victory on Friday.
It was a sensational outing that sent them through into the semi-finals of the 2019/2020 UEFA Champions League in an extraordinarily emphatic manner.
Thomas Mueller scored twice for a rampant Bayern Munich, who led 4-1 after 31 astonishing minutes.
Lionel Messi and his teammates were condemned to a thrashing that felt like the end of an era for the illustrious Catalan club.
Both teams have been crowned European champions five times.
But, while Bayern Munich look to have a real chance of adding a sixth title next week, Barca are clearly facing major reconstruction work.
It remains to be seen how many of those involved in this debacle will survive at the club.
The scoreline recalled Germany’s 7-1 win over Brazil in the 2014 FIFA World Cup semi-finals.
Also read: For Europe’s “super clubs”, UEFA Champions League determines all
It was a game in which Bayern Munich coach Hansi Flick was on the bench as the national team’s assistant coach.
It began with Bayern Munich grabbing a fourth-minute lead when Mueller collected Ivan Perisic’s cross from the left and played a clever one-two with Robert Lewandowski before drilling home.
But within three minutes Barca had struck back —- Clement Lenglet’s super long ball found Jordi Alba in space.
David Alaba’s attempt to deal with his searching cross ended up flying past his own goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
Neuer then had to be quick off his line to foil a goal-bound Luis Suarez.
But he was almost caught out by a cross-shot from Messi from the right which drifted through the area and struck the post.
But just as Barca seemed to have established themselves, the Germans regained their lead in the 21st minute.
Serge Gnabry fed Perisic on the left and the Croatian glanced up to see his options before drilling past Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Bayern Munich then added the third as Barca’s defence was opened up again with ease.
Thiago Alcantara was given plenty of space in midfield to find Leon Goretzka whose superb ball picked out Gnabry, who had got behind Lenglet and then made no mistake with the finish.
Flick’s side were running riot and it got worse for Barca when a low cross from Joshua Kimmich was turned in at the near post by Mueller.
It was another goal of ruthless simplicity, making it 4-1 at the break.
The Spaniards desperately needed to find a way to shift the momentum after the break.
Suarez, one of the few Barca players to emerge with any credit from the encounter, provided a route back into the game with a fine strike in the 57th minute.
Jordi Alba found Suarez on the edge of the box and the Uruguayan jinked past Jerome Boateng before blasting home.
But Bayern Munich were in no mood to turn down the heat.
Six minutes later, they restored their three-goal advantage, thanks to some outstanding work from their Canadian teenager Alphonso Davies.
The left-back dribbled in from the flank, danced past Nelson Semedo to get to the byline and then pulled the ball back to fellow full-back Kimmich to slot home and make it 5-2.
Somehow Bayern Munich had managed to score five goals without their prolific striker Robert Lewandowski, who had scored in his previous seven UEFA Champions League matches.
However, eight minutes from the end, the Pole put that right.
Substitute Philippe Coutinho, who is on loan at the German club from Barca, floated over a cross from the left which Lewandowski firmly headed home at the back post.
To add insult to the already painful injury, Coutinho then scored two more before the end, as FC Barcelona fell apart in unimaginable fashion to the brilliance of the Bavarians.
Bayern Munich, who last won Europe’s biggest prize in 2013, will meet either Manchester City or Olympique Lyonnais, who play on Saturday, in the last four.
In the meantime, the FC Barcelona defender Gerard Pique says radical changes are needed from top to bottom after his side were annihilated 8-2 by Bayern Munich on Friday.
The loss meant they made their exit from the 2019/2020 UEFA Champions League in one of the Catalan side’s darkest ever nights.
“We feel devastated, although ‘shame’ is the real word I’m looking for.
“We cannot afford to compete like this because it’s not the first, the second or the third time that something like this has happened,” a tearful Pique told reporters after the quarter-final drubbing, their worst-ever result in Europe.
“This is very painful but I hope it serves some purpose.”
Pique is one of the surviving members of the team who won the UEFA Champions League in 2009 under Pep Guardiola to begin a golden era for the Catalans.
But he said he was ready to leave the club in order to ensure they improve.
Pique also appeared to blame the Barca hierarchy, which includes president Josep Maria Bartomeu, for the team’s predicament as he called for changes at the very top.
“We all need to reflect deeply. The club needs lots of changes.
“I’m not talking about the coach, players —- I don’t want to point the finger at anyone, but the club needs changes on a structural level,” he said.
“If new blood needs to come for the club to change course then I’m not untouchable and I’ll be the first to leave if needs be, because it seems as if we’ve hit rock bottom.
“We all have to reflect about what is the best thing for the club and for Barca.”
Barca coach Quique Setien is unlikely to survive to oversee such a debacle, although he did not say whether or not he saw himself continuing in charge of the team.
“I’m not going to go into all that as I’ve only been here for six months. But seeing as this is Pique, surely some of what he said is true,” said the coach.
“Right now we feel enormous frustration and all we can do is make conclusions and think about the future.
“Barca is a club that is so great that this will cause us a lot of damage and obviously some things will have to change.
“The truth is this is a tremendously painful defeat.”
Reuters
