Xavi vows to ‘start from scratch’ after Barcelona tumbles out of Champions League

Munich, Germany – Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez vowed to get the Spanish giant back to the pinnacle of European soccer following a 3-0 defeat against Bayern Munich that sent the club tumbling out of the Champions League on Wednesday

The five-time champions were eliminated in the group stage for the first time in 21 years. Barcelona had reached the last 16 every year since 2003-04, when it didn’t qualify for the tournament at all.

Thomas Mueller and Leroy Sane gave Bayern a 2-0 halftime cushion in falling snow at Allianz Arena, which was devoid of spectators due to high numbers of COVID-19 cases in Bavaria.

Teenager Jamal Musiala grabbed Bayern’s third after the break to seal Barcelona’s fate.

“I’m angry. I don’t like that this is our reality now,” Xavi said. “We start a new era from here — to work hard and get back in the Champions League.”

Bayern, which also beat Barca 3-0 at Camp Nou when the sides met in September, had already qualified for the knockout stage as the Group E winner.

Bayern joined Liverpool and Ajax with six victories from six games in the group stage.

Benfica’s 2-0 win at home against Dynamo Kiev means Barcelona will finish third and drop into the Europa League.

It was almost eight years to the day since Bayern last lost a home game in the group phase and the Bundesliga leaders were in no mood to be generous.

Xavi, 41, who took charge of struggling Barcelona four weeks ago, has now suffered back-to-back defeats after his first loss as head coach against Real Betis last weekend.

“We start from scratch,” Xavi said. “Unfortunately, we are in the Europa League, which is not the place for us.”

“We will work hard to put Barcelona back in the right place. We have many things to correct. We need to win the Europa League and recover the points in the Spanish league.

“We have had some injuries, maybe we can sign some more players, but we start from zero.”

Bayern was not even at full strength.

With Joshua Kimmich quarantining after a positive COVID-19 test and Leon Goretzka injured, 18-year-old Musiala played out of position alongside Corentin Tolisso in defensive midfield.

Barcelona got off to a good start, but faded after losing Jordi Alba to an injury after 30 minutes, just before Mueller headed Bayern into the lead.

Robert Lewandowski found space on the left of the box and flicked a pass to Mueller, who claimed his 50th Champions League goal when his header looped beyond the reach of Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

The goal came just after the Barca bench learned Benfica had a 2-0 lead in its match.

Things went from bad to worse for Barca when Sane hit the net with a powerful long-range shot that deceived Ter Stegen.

Sane should have put the result beyond doubt when Bayern attacked just after the break.

Instead of tapping the ball into the empty net, he poked the ball into Ter Stegen’s grateful arms.

Alphonso Davies, who also ran Barcelona ragged in Bayern’s historic 8-2 drubbing in the 2020 quarterfinals, caused havoc down the left flank.

The quicksilver Canadian set up Bayern’s third goal when he pulled the ball back for Musiala to tap home from close range.

Mueller backed Xavi to turn Barcelona around after the final whistle.

“When you look at the (Barcelona) team, they are good players, they have everything they need,” said Mueller.

“We know things aren’t going so well behind the scenes and I had the feeling they couldn’t find the intensity they needed, which helped our cause.”