Barcelona was eliminated this Wednesday from the Champions League. In fact, the Spanish giants knew their fate before kick-off against Bayern Munich.
Inter Milan thrashed Viktoria Plzen 4-0 on the same day. A brace from Edin Dzeko highlighted the great victory for the Italian club. Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Romelu Lukaku also added goals for Inter. Lukaku’s goal, the team’s fourth of the night, was his first goal in more than two months. The Belgium international had previously been out of action due to a hamstring injury. Inter’s victory ensured that they would get through the group stage and Barça would be out.
Despite being knocked out of the UCL and sent to the Europa League, Barca still had to face Bayern Munich on Wednesday night. The Catalan club were beaten 3-0 at home by the reigning German champions. It was only the fifth loss in Barca’s last 46 home games in the UCL.
Barcelona out of the Champions
The five-time UCL champions looked deflated even before the match started. Former Liverpool star Sadio Mane scored the opening goal with just nine minutes left on the clock. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Benjamin Pavard added two more goals to inflict more pain on the hosts.
Elsewhere in the competition, Liverpool booked their place in the knockout stage. The Reds beat Ajax 3-0 away from home. Liverpool started the game on the back foot. The hosts failed to capitalize on a plethora of opportunities within the opening period.
Despite a slow start, Jurgen Klopp’s men found their footing and finished off the Dutch champions. Mohamed Salah put Liverpool ahead shortly before the break. The rojillos came out of the break on fire, scoring twice in the first seven minutes of the second half.
Liverpool will have a big showdown with Napoli next week to decide which team tops Group A. The Serie A leaders travel to Merseyside on Tuesday. Earlier, Napoli crushed the Reds 4-1 in Italy to open the UCL group stage, so Liverpool will need to record a big win to have a chance of finishing first in the group.
PHOTO: IMAGO / ZUMA Wire
