Barcelona ‘resign from football elite’ with Champions League exit as angry Xavi demands start of new era

How the mighty have fallen. Five-time European kings Barcelona will have to adapt to the sobering reality of a first stint in the Europa League after crashing out of the Champions League on Wednesday night.

Due to Benfica’s 2-0 win over Dynamo Kiev at the same time in Portugal, the LaLiga giants had to pull off the immensely tough feat of an away victory at Bayern Munich on matchday six in order to claim second spot in Group E and secure passage through to the last-16 of Europe’s elite club competition.

However, a heavy 3-0 loss in Bavaria inflicted courtesy of goals from Thomas Muller, Leroy Sane and Jamal Musiala mean Barca suffered the ignominy of a first failure to reach the knockout stages in 17 years.

A third-placed finish in the group means Barcelona will now enter the Europa League - a competition they have not competed in since the Uefa Cup was rebranded back in 2009 .

Barca’s last spell in the Uefa Cup came all the way back in 2004 after they finished sixth in LaLiga the previous season during a rough end to the Joan Gaspart era. Frank Rijkaard’s side were eliminated by domestic rivals Real Zaragoza at the quarter-final stage.

The partisan Spanish press were typically strong in their criticism of such an abject failure that began under Ronald Koeman and could not be averted by Nou Camp icon Xavi, with it being lamented as the club’s “resignation from the football elite”.

Other headlines ranged from: “To Hell” (AS), “The Sinking” (Marca) and “Below Zero”(Mundo Deportivo), as well as the more melancholic “Sad goodbye to the Champions League” from Diario Sport.

After the defeat to Bayern, an angry Xavi called for change and demanded that Barcelona treat this as a new era.

“Bayern dominated us,” he said. “We always want to dominate but it was the opposite here. We must demand more. We’re Barca. This must be a point of inflection to change the dynamic and many more things.

“This is the Champions League, but this is also our reality. It’s the situation we’re in. I’m angry. This is the reality and it p****s me off. We have to tackle it face on. There’s nothing else for it.

“A new era starts today. We start from zero. Our objective is the Champions League, not the Europa League but that is our reality now and we have to try and win it.”

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Barcelona crash out of Champions League after Bayern Munich defeat as Benfica win