Champions League
Bayern served Barcelona off – Wolfsburg embarrassed themselves against Lille
Thomas Müller scored the first of three Bayern goals against FC Barcelona, Alphonso Davies (center) and Kingsley Coman (right) congratulate
© Christof Stache / AFP
FC Bayern is not naked: In the last group game of the Champions League, the record champions beat FC Barcelona with ease. VfL Wolfsburg are out of international business after their home defeat against OSC Lille.
Driven by anniversary goal scorer Thomas Müller, FC Bayern have completed their six-win group stage and thus underpinned their title ambitions in the Champions League. In a dreary ghost game atmosphere, the Munich team humiliated the glorious FC Barcelona again on Wednesday evening with a 3-0 (2-0) win.
Müller with his 50th goal in Europe’s premier football class (34th minute), Leroy Sané (43rd) – aided by a mistake by national goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen – and Jamal Musiala (62nd) ensured the third clear Bayern- Win against Barça in a row. Bayern had won 3-0 in the first leg and celebrated a legendary 8-2 at the final tournament in Lisbon on the way to winning the 2020 Champions League.
Barcelona out for the first time in 21 years after the preliminary round
While Barcelona were eliminated from the group stage for the first time in 21 years, FC Bayern are looking forward to the round of 16 draw on Monday. There, however, top teams such as defending champions FC Chelsea or the star ensemble of Paris Saint-Germain threaten as opponents from the pot of runners-up in the group. Knockout games against lighter calibers like Sporting Lisbon would also be possible in the new year. As only the second team after Real Madrid, the Munich team managed a flawless preliminary round for the second time.
This makes Bayern the only German team in the knockout phase of the Champions League. Because after Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig (both continue to play in the Europa League), the Champions League season is already over for the weak VfL Wolfsburg after the preliminary round. The team of coach Florian Kohfeldt lost their last and decisive group game against the French champions OSC Lille with 1: 3 (0: 1) on Wednesday evening and was therefore eliminated as bottom of the group G completely deserved. VfL could have qualified for the round of 16 with a win, but 36-year-old Burak Yilmaz scored 1-0 for the French in the 11th minute. Jonathan David (72nd) and Angel Gomes (78th) added two more hits. The goal by Renato Steffen (89th) shortly before the end had no effect.
Wolfsburg continued the disappointing performance of the previous weeks in this important game and have already suffered their fourth consecutive defeat in national and international competitions. The fact that with 6544 fans not even half of the corona-related only 13,281 spectators came into the stadium, also contributed to the desolation of this evening.