• Narration and statistics This is how we live the match

  • Group C Classification

The story doesn't matter.

The story hurts.

It holds you back no matter how much you want to escape from it.

Barcelona tried to escape from their worst demons against Bayern, a team that always delved into their fears.

And not even an exquisite first time to the rhythm of Pedri's tapping was enough to avoid another defeat on stage that was to inaugurate a new era.

Lewandowski's aim failed against those same goals that for years surrendered to his path, and the Bavarians, in four minutes, reminded Xavi Hernández's team that scars bleed.

[Narration and stats: 2-0]

Of the team that conceded that 2-8 in Lisbon, which was nothing more than the confirmation of an end, only Ter Stegen and Sergio Busquets appeared this time at the Allianz Arena.

The team is another.

In body.

But not in soul.

Xavi relied on his preferred framework (Busquets-Gavi-Pedri for the government; Raphinha, Lewandowski and Dembélé for the execution), and resolved unknowns in defense that perhaps were not even.

Because for the right side, the Barça coach understands that, no matter how much Bellerín has arrived, it must be a good corrector who occupies the flank in the most demanding scenarios.

So it was Koundé's turn to fill that role again.

While the choice of Marcos Alonso as starting left back, whose performance was excellent until losing the 1-0 mark, served to confirm the definitive depreciation of Jordi Alba.

Alejandro Balde will have to take advantage of the duels between the wars to continue growing.

Christensen, meanwhile, formed alongside Araujo to try to control both the aerial game and the ground game.

Mueller,

However, the staging of Barcelona against Bayern scratched the excellence.

Faced with attempts by Nagelsmann's team to speed up the game to the rhythm of Alphonso Davies' rushing down the bank, Xavi's team responded by hugging an angel.

Pedri went for the ball, made it his own and began to dance under those red lights that must have given the Allianz a look from hell.

Pedri wanted to turn it into his paradise.

For this he enlisted the help of Gavi, who seemed to be enough to make life impossible for Kimmich and Sabitzer.

Pedri stopped time with a cut in the area to open the skies with a simple hip strike.

Last season, in Istanbul, the action was fabulous.

This time he ran into opposition from Neuer, who prevented Barcelona from taking the first goal.

Lewandowski looked hard for him, received in Munich as if he were a nobody.

Soccer tends to forget when it detaches itself from its heroes.

The Pole, who perhaps had a hard time getting his nerves up, had great chances that he could not finish.

The two times that Pedri left him in a position to beat Neuer, the striker lost his usual delicacy in control, which helped the subsequent error.

Once he shot high, the other Mazraoui snatched the leather, who had replaced Pavard, who could not recover from a punch from Marcos Alonso.

At 26 minutes Barcelona had already fired up to seven times, for none of Bayern.

Even Raphinha, although he was having a hard time with Davies, tried the shot with some danger despite the fact that his impact on the end was scarce this time.

This cost him being replaced in the second half by Ferran Torres, despite the fact that Dembélé's performance was completely disconcerting.

Yes, the French winger returned where he used to.

Although this does not mean that he claimed, perhaps rightly so, a Davies penalty on the brink of halftime.

The referee did not listen to reasons.

And Bayern, who seemed to be just biding their time, and satisfied with their rival's ineffectiveness, showed that nothing is worth more than a goal in football.

Lucas Hernández found him, whom Marcos Alonso let loose after a closed corner from Kimmich.

Yun sighed later, with Xavi's team in full collapse, between Musiala and Sané they advanced as fast as they could through the same throat of the field until the latter gently beat Ter Stegen.

Pedro did not give up.

He hit the ball on the stick.

But he was already alone.

In At the end of the escapade, Godard included the dialogue:

-What is your greatest ambition in life?

-To be immortal and then... To die.

Barça must still be in it.


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