Spanish press slam Barca's 'historic humiliation'

Spanish press slam Barca’s ‘historic humiliation’
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Spanish press slam Barca’s ‘historic humiliation’

Highlights

Bayern thrash Catalans 8-2 to reach Champions League semis

Lisbon: Bayern Munich hammered Barcelona 8-2 to roar into the UEFA Champions League semi-finals and made the history of scoring most in a knockout stage of the European clubs' top tournament.

Barcelona's "historic humiliation" has been plastered across the sports papers in Spain. Barcelona-based Sport and Madrid-based AS are in agreement - for once.

Both of the papers went for the headline "Historic Humiliation" on Saturday morning.

Marca opted to have the word "embarrassment" splashed across their front page.

The source claimed the defeat to the German giants marked the "end of an era" for the Catalan club. L'Esportiuadded "It's finished" to their front page to pile the pressure on Barcelona.

Barcelona had not lost a game by six goals since their 6-0 defeat to Espanyol in 1951.

Barcelona conceded eight goals for the first time since the 1946 defeat from FC Sevilla (8-0). It is also the first time since 2008 the Spain giants finished a season without a significant title, reports Xinhua news agency.

Coach QuiqueSetien brought a different Barcelona to the field on Friday. Antoine Griezmann was on the bench and gave way to Alex Vidal to start the game. On the German side, Hans-Dieter Flick came in with the best, even with Kimmich acting in his original position, the right wing.

The game start was quite disputed and the first goal chance was from the Catalan team, just after two minutes, when Sergi Roberto made a play on the right and sought Luis Suarez in the area, but Bayern's defense kept it away.

In the fourth minute, the first goal of the match came out for Bayern. Striker Robert Lewandowski dominated a high ball in the area, made the pivot and delivered to Thomas Muller to score. Barcelona's response came from the sequence, more precisely after six minutes of play: Left-back Jordi Alba played from the edge, crossed for Suarez on the penalty spot, but before him, defender Alaba tried to cut, covered the goalkeeper and made an own goal.

The turn seemed to be on the way. Barcelona produced two more goal plays, with Neuer defending a ball from Suarez and Lionel Messi kicking a ball on the post, leaving the game competitive until 20 minutes.

However, in the 21st minute after a stolen ball from Gnabri on the left, Croatian Peresic received inside the area and scored the second German goal.

Six minutes later came Bayern's third goal, also with Gnabri, who this time received a great pass from Goretzka and beat the goalkeeper. On 31 minutes, after a cross by Kimmich's right, Muller received the ball in the small area and marked his second in the game and the fourth of Bayern.

After the interval, the Barca coach promised changes, drawing out Sergi Roberto and finally fielding in Griezmann.

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