Thomas Muller’s distracted strike was an unfortunate way for the opener to fall behind, but the class gap between the two sides was perfectly clear.
Had it not been for goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Bayern would have moved closer to last year’s crushing scoreline, although even their heroics could not stop the irrepressible Robert Lewandowski from scoring a brace, raising their Champions League total to 75. happened.
‘We are who we are’
After slipping in a desperate attempt to deny Lewandowski his second match score, photos of Gerard Pique, the key to many of Barcelona’s biggest victories, look helpless from the floor as the Polish forward took home a painful encapsulation of the club. acted as. present situation.
Pique has been at Camp Nou in recent years despite the departure of key players such as Neymar and Luis Suarez, not to mention Antoine Griezmann and Messi this summer, and the centerback has been clear in his assessment of Barcelona’s recent struggles after the game. Was.
“The result is bad and playing at home, it’s a bad result, we can’t lie to ourselves,” Pique told Spanish broadcaster Movistar.
“This is what we are now, we are what we are”, he said.
Pique noted the absence of youngster Anu Fati, who came from Manchester City this summer, as well as winger Ousmane Dembele and new signing Sergio Aguero.
“I hope the injured players start to make a comeback throughout the season and I’m sure we will compete well. It’s going to be a very complicated year,” he added.
“Right now, we are not the favourites, but things change very quickly in football. Last season, no one would have said that Chelsea were the favourites. [to win the Champions League]”
With 17-year-old substitute Alejandro Martínez one of several teenagers on the pitch by the end of the game, Pique found reason for optimism about the future despite his acceptance of the current challenges facing the club.
“I think at the end of the day, we played with four to five 18-year-olds,” he told CBS.
“I think they compete wonderfully and we have to invest in them, they are the future of the club.
“It’s true that since I’ve been here, it’s not the best of times, we’ve suffered a bit but I think we’ll grow up, we’ll be better and I’m sure that, at the end of the year, we’ll have the title.” Compete for,” Pique said.
‘It is what it is’
Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman acknowledged the current state of the club while acknowledging his defender’s comments, acknowledging a “quality” gap between his side and Bayern.
“Today we only had three forwards, no more. Tactically, there were a lot of phases of the game that we controlled. We tried to fill in the blanks for Lewandowski, we tried to compete better, but it’s the same is,” Koman told Movistar.
“I can’t complain about my attitude. There is a quality gap in the team, as a group and on the bench which is getting better. In two or three years, these young players will be better. It’s really hard to accept , but it is what it is,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, Messi is set to start a Champions League campaign without Barcelona for the first time in his career as Paris Saint-Germain face Club Brugge in Belgium tonight.
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