Barcelona 2 Bayern Munich 8 Champions League Match Review 14/08/2020

• 2019-20 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals report
• Barcelona 2 Bayern Munich 8 – Estadio da Luz, Lisbon – August 14, 2020

Bayern Munich decimate Barcelona to storm into Final Four

In one of the most destructive displays of football in recent times, Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich decimated Barcelona 8-2 to storm into the semi-finals of the 2019-20 UEFA Champions League.

Far from the noisy and fervently supportive environs of Nou Camp, Barcelona simply crumbled under the high pressing, aggressive Bayern Munich in front of an almost empty Estadio da Luz in Lisbon.

Barcelona 2 Bayern Munich 8

Hansi Flick's men lost no time in stamping their authority when Thomas Mueller collected a Ivan Perisic cross and engaged in a deft one-two with Robert Lewandowski before drilling one past Marc-Andre ter Stegen in as early as the 4th minute.

The lead was short-lived as the Catalans drew level 3 minutes later. Clement Lenglet's superb long ball meant for an onrushing Jordi Alba found Bayern defender David Alaba intervening to clear the  ball but instead of sending the ball over he sent it flying past  Manuel Neuer into the net for an own-goal.

Bayern suddenly looked to be under pressure with Neuer desperately fending off a goal-bound Luis Suarez and truly beaten by a looping cross-shot from Messi which drifted through the area and fortunately for him struck the far post.

But just as Barca seemed to have got themselves back into the game, the German club forged ahead in the 21st minute. Serge Gnabry fed Ivan Perisic on the left, the ball landing beautifully for the Croatian to drill one in past ter Stegen.

The Barca defense was cut open with ease once more six minutes later. Thiago Alcantara found acres of space in the midfield to run through before finding Leon Goretzka. Goretzka picked out Serge Gnabry who made no mistake in delivering a crisp finish to make it 3-1 for Bayern.

The Bavarians were running riot and it got worse for Barca when a low cross from Joshua Kimmich was turned in at the near post by Mueller. 4-1 with just half-an-hour of play gone.

Down 1-4 at the break, Quique Setien's men desperately needed to find their way back in the competition and it almost seemed like they did. Jordi Alba found Suarez on the edge of the box and the Uruguayan jinked passed Jerome Boateng before blasting home to reduce the deficit to two in the 57th.

But a Bayern side in no mood to relent restored the three-goal advantage in no time. It was some awesome piece of football from their Canadian left-back, teenager Alphonso Davies. The defender dribbled in from the flank at breakneck speed, weaved past Nelson Semedo to get to the byline then pull the ball back to Joshua Kimmich to slot home and make it 5-2.

Bayern's goal-machine Robert Lewandowski, surprisingly left out of the goalfest so far, joined the party when he headed one one home in the 82nd minute for his 14th of the competition this season and 50th in the Champions League overall.

Further salt was poured into Barca's wounds as Philippe Coutinho on loan from the Catalans came off the bench to net a seventh and eighth from close-range finishes in the 85th and 89th minutes.

With the resounding 8-2 win, Bayern Munich have managed to send out an emphatic and ominous message to their Champions League rivals that nothing short of a title would suffice.

For the Catalans, it was sheer humiliation. Apart from having incurred their sixth loss to Bayern in the Champions League, it was their first defeat by a six-goal margin since a 6-0 loss to Espanyol in 1951 and the last time they let in as many as 8 goals was in a 8-0 defeat to Sevilla in 1946.

Friday night's defeat was the Catalans' fourth Champions League quarter-final exit from the previous five seasons.

Barcelona's dismembering on the pitch in Estadio da Luz will surely now entail major restructuring work off it before next season.

As for the highly-charged Bavarian giants, they get to meet French Ligue 1 side Lyon for a semi-final clash on Wednesday, August 19th.

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