Barcelona out of Champions League after 3-0 defeat to Bayern Munich

Barcelona have been knocked out of the Champions League after a 3-0 defeat to Bayern Munich on Wednesday night.

The result meant Barcelona finished third in Group E and will drop into the Europa League in the new year.

Barcelona needed to match or better Benfica’s result at home against Dynamo Kyiv to progress to the last 16, but the Portuguese side comfortably won their game 2-0.

Playing behind closed doors in Munich’s Allianz Arena, Thomas Muller opened the scoring on 34 minutes with a lofted header that just crossed the line. Ten minutes later, Leroy Sane scored Bayern’s second goal with a long-range effort that Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen should have done better with. Jamal Musiala added a third from close range in the second half.

Barcelona have not played in the Europa League since 2004, when Celtic knocked them out in the round of 16. That was also the last year that the Catalan club failed to feature in the Champions League knockout stage.

This was the second defeat in a row for new Barcelona head coach Xavi, who suffered his first since returning in a non-playing role against Real Betis at the weekend.