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| Event | |||||||
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| Date | 14 August 2020 (2020-08-14) | ||||||
| Venue | Estádio da Luz,Lisbon | ||||||
| Man of the Match | Thomas Müller(Bayern Munich)[1] | ||||||
| Referee | Damir Skomina (Slovenia)[2] | ||||||
| Attendance | 0[3][note 1] | ||||||
| Weather | Clear night 24 °C (75 °F) 54%humidity[2] | ||||||
FC Barcelona 2 – 8 FC Bayern Munich was the2019–20 UEFA Champions Leaguequarter-final match betweenBarcelona andBayern Munich was played on 14 August 2020 at theEstádio da Luz inLisbon, Portugal. Bayern, who later went on towin the competition, defeated Barcelona 8–2. It marked the first time the club had conceded eight goals in a game since 1946, when they lost 8–0 toSevilla in the1946 Copa del Generalísimo. This was also only the second occasion in history thatBarcelona conceded more than 4 goals in one game inEuropean competitions since their 5–4 loss toLevski Sofia in the1975–76 UEFA Cup quarter-final.
Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic in Europe, the match was playedbehind closed doors.[4]
In the1998–99 UEFA Champions Leaguegroup stage, Bayern defeated Barcelona in both matches,1–0 at home[5] and2–1 away[6] en route to Bayern topping Group D while Barcelona finished third and failed to reach the knockout stage.[7]
Bayern and Barcelona had met in four knockout ties since2008–09 UEFA Champions League, which yielded 26 goals prior to this game. Each time the eventual winner of the Bayern-Barcelona knockout tie went on not only to win the UEFA Champions League, but also complete thecontinental treble, which also occurred in2009,2013 and2015.[8]
Barcelona won 5–1 on aggregate in thequarter-finals of 2008–09 edition. Barcelona's4–0 win atCamp Nou in the first leg, with all goals scored in the first half, led Bayern Munich presidentFranz Beckenbauer to remark "What I saw in the first half is, without doubt, the worst football in Bayern's history". Barcelona managerPep Guardiola was sent off in the first leg for protesting a yellow card given toLionel Messi, and had to watch thesecond leg from the stands.[9][10][11] This defeat, as well as 0–1 home loss in aBundesliga match againstSchalke 04, eventually led to the sacking of Bayern managerJürgen Klinsmann.[12]
Thesemi-finals of the2012–13 competition sawArjen Robben andThomas Müller inspire Bayern to a 7–0 aggregate victory, to become the biggest win of the semi-finals on aggregate,[13] including a3–0 win at the Camp Nou[14][15] which was Barcelona's last home defeat in European competition until a3–0 loss on 8 December 2020 toJuventus.
The2014–15 UEFA Champions Leaguesemi-finals saw Lionel Messi andNeymar as the key players in a 5–3 aggregate win over Bayern, a3–0 win at the Camp Nou and then a3–2 defeat at theAllianz Arena.[16][17] Bayern's manager at the time was Pep Guardiola, who had previously managed Barcelona from 2008 to 2012.
Both teams qualified for the knockout phase as winners of their respectivegroups. Both teams had also changed their coaches during the season, Bayern replacedNiko Kovač withHansi Flick in November 2019,[18] while Barcelona replacedErnesto Valverde withQuique Setién in January 2020.[19] Barcelona had facedBorussia Dortmund,Inter Milan andSlavia Prague; while Bayern, who facedTottenham Hotspur,Olympiacos andRed Star Belgrade,won all six of their group matches, including anemphatic 7–2 win at theTottenham Hotspur Stadium,[20] scoring 24 goals and conceding just five. Barcelona facedNapoli in theround of 16 and won 4–2 on aggregate; while Bayern Munich beatChelsea 7–1 on aggregate, with the second leg matches of both teams playedbehind closed doors due to the impact of theCOVID-19 pandemic.[4]
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The fixture was played on the 14th of August, 2020 at theEstádio da Luz in Lisbon, Portugal. It was part of asingle-elimination tournament, followingUEFA's decision to complete the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League and2019–20 UEFA Europa League seasons, which had been halted since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, at neutral venues.[21][22] In the opening 10 minutes, Thomas Müller fired Bayern Munich ahead following aone-two withRobert Lewandowski. Shortly after,David Alaba sliced across fromJordi Alba into his own net – with an unsuccessful save attempt fromManuel Neuer – to level the scores. Barcelona themselves missed two opportunities:Luis Suárez was denied by Neuer and Lionel Messi hit the post with acurling cross-shot. The following minutes took the match away from Barcelona, asIvan Perišić kicked in a deflected shot in the 21st minute for Bayern, fed by a pass fromSerge Gnabry, after a passing error fromSergi Roberto. Gnabry then scored with ahalf volley straight shot from achipthrough-ball byLeon Goretzka in the 27th minute, and Müller quickly added the fourth four minutes later from a cross byJoshua Kimmich.
In the 57th minute, a neat turn and finish from the centre of the box to the bottom-right corner by Suárez gave the Spanish side a glimmer of hope, but that proved premature, as Kimmich's side-footed finish in the 63rd minute, connecting with a delivery fromAlphonso Davies – who had beaten his marker,Nélson Semedo, at the edge of the box – made the scoreline 5–2 to the Germans. Bayern scored three goals in the closing 10 minutes of the match as in-form striker Lewandowski, who had been quiet for most of the second half, headed his 14th goal of the campaign from a close-range cross byPhilippe Coutinho in the 82nd minute. Then Coutinho, who wason loan to Bayern from Barcelona, made the scoreline 8–2 in the final moments of the match: first by taking advantage of a pass from Müller in the 85th minute with a right-footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom-left corner, followed by a left-footed shot from very close range to the bottom-left corner from a headed pass by substituteLucas Hernandez in the 89th minute.[23][24][25]
         Barcelona[2] |      Bayern Munich[2] |
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Man of the Match: Assistant referees:[2] | Match rules[28]
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Barcelona suffered their heaviest loss in 69 years; this was the first time they had conceded more than five goals in a UEFA Champions League game, and their worst concession since the 8–0 defeat toSevilla in theround of 16 of the 1946 Copa del Generalísimo.[25] Bayern Munich, on the other hand, continued theirrun of winning all UEFA Champions League matches they played in the season, and would go on to lift the title.[30] The eight goals Bayern scored was the most a side had scored in aEuropean Cup knockout match sinceReal Madrid defeatedFC Swarovski Tirol 9–1 in thelast 16 tie in 1990.
Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski became the first player to score in eight or more consecutive UEFA Champions League matches sinceCristiano Ronaldo in April 2018 (eleven games), while Bayern's coach Hansi Flick became only the third manager inChampions League history to win his first six matches in charge, afterFabio Capello in1992–93 andLuis Fernández in1994–95.[31][32] The match was also compared to the2014 FIFA World Cupsemi-finalmatch betweenBrazil andGermany as Thomas Müller opened the scoring in the 7–1 routing of Brazil, whichJérôme Boateng and Manuel Neuer also took part in. Flick had been the assistant coach of Germany in that match as well.[33]
Barcelona defenderGerard Piqué stated that the club needed structural changes on all levels,[34] while club presidentJosep Maria Bartomeu described it as a "disaster".[35] Three days after the game, Barcelona sacked manager Quique Setién.[36] He was followed the next day by the club'ssporting directorEric Abidal.[37] Setién was replaced on 19 August byRonald Koeman, who had played for the club from 1989 to 1995 and was their assistant manager underLouis van Gaal from 1998 to 2000.[38]
Partly owing to this heavy defeat, Barcelona captain Lionel Messi demanded to leave Barcelona, explained his decision owed to the club's failing to compete for the Champions League title after three previous debacles in the competition (0–3 against Juventus in2016–17 quarter-finals, 0–3 againstRoma in2017–18 quarter-finals, and 0–4 againstLiverpool in2018–19 semi-finals), by saying: "I looked further afield and I want to compete at the highest level, win titles, compete in the Champions League. You can win or lose in it, because it is very difficult, but you have to compete. At least compete for it and let us not fall apart in Rome, Liverpool and Lisbon. All that led me to think about that decision that I wanted to carry out."[39] Although Messi ended up staying in the summer, the defeat proved to be the final involvement thatIvan Rakitić, Nélson Semedo, Luis Suárez andArturo Vidal would have with the club, as all four players departed Barcelona during the following transfer window.[40]
Bayern Munich went on to win theirsixth title in the competition, overtaking Barcelona's total, following a 3–0 win overLyon in thesemi-finals and a 1–0 victory againstParis Saint-Germain in thefinal. This win would also secure the club's secondcontinental treble, becoming only the second European side – after Barcelona themselves – to achieve this feat on multiple occasions.[41]
Both teams would meet each other again twice later, first as part of the2021–22 UEFA Champions League group stage, which saw Bayern Munich emerge victorious again with a 3–0 score in both matches, the second of which ultimately sent Barcelona to theUEFA Europa League for the first time in seventeen years, which further aggravated the perception of a crisis occurring within the team.[42]Marca pointed that Barcelona's relegation to the Europa League was the culmination of "a glorious cycle that was coming to an end," after the team had suffered a total of ten losses by at least a three-goal margin since 2017, calling the 2–8 defeat to Bayern "the worst."[43]
Both the teams went on to meet once again in the2022–23 UEFA Champions League group stage. Barcelona only saw their misery against Bayern continue after losing 2–0 away from home and 3–0 at home, knocking them out of the Champions League into the Europa League for a second successive season.[44][45] It was the first time that Barcelona were eliminated from the group stage twice in a row in 24 years (in the1997–98 and1998–99 seasons respectively, the latter of which also involved Bayern Munich in that season's group stage).
On 29 May 2024, Hansi Flick was appointed as Barcelona manager, signing a contract until 2026.[46] That year, Barcelona and Bayern again faced each other, this time in theleague phase under the new Champions League format. Flick guided his new team to a 4–1 win against Bayern, putting an end to Barcelona's miserable streak.[47][48]
