At entrance 15 in front of the Camp Nou in Barcelona, ​​a man was standing behind a large table.

He sold caps, scarves and especially jerseys there.

On his table there were many with the number 10. They were not provided with the name Fati, like Ansu Fati, the soccer player who later wore this number in the stadium, but with Messi, like Lionel Messi, the soccer player whom quite a few for hold the greatest in history.

Christopher Meltzer

Sports correspondent in Munich.

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On Tuesday evening, FC Barcelona played the first Champions League game of a new era.

It started when Lionel Messi left the city a month ago, even though his old shirt was now not only in front of the stadium, but also in it.

The fans who wore it clapped for Memphis Depay, the striker who is supposed to replace Messi at least in part but couldn't even begin to.

And when the first round match against FC Bayern Munich ended with a 3-0 draw - the goals were scored by Thomas Müller (34th minute) and Robert Lewandowski (56th, 85th) - some of the 40,000 fans even whistled.

They had seen a game in which their team was overwhelmed in their own stadium.

It has been 13 months since FC Bayern and FC Barcelona last played against each other.

And if you want to understand the state in which their teams met on Tuesday, you have to remember the fabulous 8: 2 from back then.

In Lisbon, where the organizers of the Champions League dared to get out of the corona lockdown with a final tournament, Bayern played in the quarter-finals so quickly and so willingly that the Catalans, who shaped European football in this century, collapsed as a team.

They then parted ways with their head coach, their president and, this summer, when the club's gross debt reached € 1.35 billion, even their miracle player.

They just couldn't afford Lionel Messi anymore.

The new Barca have nothing to do with the old one

Therefore, on Tuesday evening, Memphis Depay and Luuk de Jong stormed.

A player who used to play for Mönchengladbach in Borussiapark and who is now allowed to do it for Barcelona at Camp Nou, because Antoine Griezmann was spontaneously loaned out there.

The new Barca had nothing to do with the old Barca in this game.

With Sergio Busquets, Frankie de Jong and Pedri, the trainer Ronald Koeman has a midfield trio that could actually demonstrate this old style with the precise and fast passes.

Actually.

And so it was fitting that the most promising scoring opportunity for the great FC Barcelona was a header from Uruguayan defender Ronald Araujo - after a free-kick cross from the half-field.

Not everything was peaceful in Munich after the quarter-finals in Lisbon. Coach Hansi Flick lost trust in his superiors - and they lost their trust in him. With the exception of central defender David Alaba and midfielder Thiago, his successor Julian Nagelsmann has the axis that won the Champions League at the time. In the gate Manuel Neuer. In midfield Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka. In the storm Thomas Müller and Robert Lewandowski.

It was the two attackers who decided the game in Barcelona with their goals. In the 34th minute, Müller shot from about 20 meters - and was lucky that defender Eric Garcia turned away from him and deflected the ball with his back when his goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen had already moved into the other corner. In the 56th minute Lewandowski only had to poke the ball into the empty goal after Jamal Musiala had shot it at the post. And in the 85th minute he slammed the ball into the goal, this time after Serge Gnabry had shot against the post.

The international Gnabry was only substituted on that evening. In his place Jamal Musiala played, who together with Leroy Sané, who was allowed to start again on the left, played the defenders again and again. They also had good chances to score. That was only prevented by Ter Stegen. He was Barcelona's best - and that said everything about the superiority of Bayern and the inferiority of Barcelona.