Bayern Kicks Barcelona Out Of Champions League

JAKARTA - Bayern Munich kicked Barcelona out of the Champions League after beating the Spanish club 3-0 in the final Group E match at the Allianz Arena Stadium, Germany, Wednesday local time.

Along with these results, Benfica won a 2-0 victory over Dynamo Kiev in the other match, thus claiming one ticket to the last 16 of the Champions League remaining in Group E.

For Barca, this is the first time in more than two decades that they have been absent from the knockout stages of the Champions League.

As reported by Antara, Bayern became the third team to sweep away wins in six Champions League group stage matches this season after Liverpool and Ajax.

Barcelona, who had to win if they wanted to qualify, tried to press from the start but Ronald Araujo's cross was cleared by Niklas Sule while Jordi Alba's shot was easily saved by goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

In the 21st minute, Barcelona had a good chance when Memphis Depay found Ousmane Dembele on the edge of the box, but the Frenchman's late shot was too high over the bar.

Able to suppress Barca attacks, the hosts then successfully opened the scoring in the 34th minute when Thomas Mueller met Robert Lewandowski's pass.

The ball was cleared by Araujo, but referee Ovidiu Hategan received notification of goal-line technology and confirmed the Bayern goal.

Bayern's lead was doubled two minutes before the break when Leroy Sane was left with plenty of space to beat goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen and slot the ball into the top corner.

Barca's attempt to bounce back was complicated because in the 62nd minute their goal fell again when young talent Jamal Musiala stood unmarked to finish Alphonso Davies' pass to widen Bayern's 3-0 lead.

Barca could barely do much with the remaining time and had to accept the harsh reality for the first time since 2000 that they missed the knockout stages of the Champions League and were relegated to the Europa League.