After failing to qualify for the Champions League this year, Barcelona has experienced Champions League group stage exits in each of the last two seasons.
Both Xavi and Joan Laporta
Following their humiliating Champions League defeat on Wednesday night, Barcelona president Joan Laporta sent a message to coach Xavi Hernandez to express his unwavering support.
Even though there is still one round of games left, the Catalan giants suffered a devastating three-goal loss to Bayern Munich at home after their elimination from the group stage had already been determined.
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Against the German champions, goals from Sadio Mane, Erick Choupo-Moting, and Benjamin Pavard doomed Barcelona to yet another disheartening defeat. For the second consecutive season, Bayern not only defeated Camp Nou by a score of three goals, but also did it without allowing a single shot on goal.
Bayern, who have won all five of their group stage games, and Italian team Inter, who earned four points in their two group stage games against Xavi’s team, had previously been established as being uncatchable.
After the game, though, Barca president Laporta refused to place the responsibility on Xavi or the players, telling Barca TV: “The result is unfortunate, but you cannot place the blame on the players or the coach for anything. We must look ahead because La Liga and other competitions are still to come.
“Since this enterprise is still in its infancy, we were aware that there would be ups and downs. We must demonstrate that we are still in the league. La Liga is crucial, and we are competing. The advice is to think forward. This already took place.
After Barcelona’s elimination from the Champions League, could Xavi face pressure?
The Barcelona players were dejected after their three-goal defeat to Bayern Munich.
The Barcelona players were dejected after their three-goal defeat to Bayern Munich.
After the game, Barca midfielder Pedri expressed more pessimism to Spanish TV station Movistar: “It’s a failure in my eyes.
We’ve demonstrated in games that we don’t deserve to be in the Champions League. But we still have a lot more competitions to enter and win to please our devoted supporters.”
The full-back for the Blaugrana Following the match, Marcos Alonso stated: “Whether or not this is a failure, we’ll have to discuss it at the end of the year. We must now put everything aside and focus on getting better. It is challenging. But that’s it; we didn’t set out to get this result. Let’s continue the battle despite the negative experience.”
Now that Barcelona has been ousted from the Champions League, they will join teams like Sevilla and, most likely, Juventus in the Europa League. Another team that will likely finish third in their group is Atletico Madrid, which lost out on a top-two spot.