Barcelona to get over Lionel Messi departure as they face Bayern Munich tonight

By Xorkpe Sosu 4 Min Read

Barcelona to host Bayern Munich in Champions League Group E clash tonight at Camp Nou. Bayern Munich thrashed the Spanish giants 8-2 in the quarter-finals of the 2019-20 Champions League competition, the defeat was Barça’s worst-ever European defeat in the clubs history.

The defeat led to Lionel Messi’s first declaring his intention to leave the Catalans a year ago. The Argentine’s departure for Paris Saint-Germain came a year later due to the club’s financial problems, despite the player rowing back on his pledge to leave and preparing to take a 50 per cent pay cut.

The Catalan club have undergone radical changes since that defeat by Bayern in 2020, coach Quique Setién and then president Josep Maria Bartomeu made way for new staffs, followed by the two top South American stars Luis Suárez and Lionel Messi all departing from the Catalans.

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Barcelona are still digesting the shock of losing Lionel Messi but are not yet counting out the chance of an unlikely tittle for the Champions League, Sergio Busquets said ahead of Tonight’s meeting at Camp Nou to Bayern Munich.

“It was a shock given everything Leo did for Barça and for me,” Captain Sergio Busquets said on Monday.

“We felt a number of sensations which were difficult to digest but we have to try and move on. We’re only at the start of the season and we have to get used to playing without Leo.”

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Philippe Coutinho scored against Barca and now he is with Barca against Bayern

Busquets says club have made progress since 8-2 defeat to the Germans, Captain of the Catalans admitted to being badly affected by the humiliating defeat but stressed the team have made progress under new coach Ronald Koeman.

“It was difficult to accept, but that’s how football is. Some time has passed and we’re confident things are going to be different,” he added.

“We’ve had to deal with some difficult situations in the last year with a lot of changes at all levels of the club, and he [Koeman] was brought here to make those changes and has had a big impact,”

“Anything can happen in football. Chelsea won the competition last season when they weren’t favorites at the start.

“The important thing is how we are as a collective and now we know we don’t have Leo nor his individual brilliance. We’re excited and aware of the difficulty but we’re very ambitious and we want to win.”

Barcelona now have seven points after three games in La Liga, their game against Sevilla was postponed over the weekend due to South American players returning late from World Cup qualifiers.

Bayern Munich have 10 points after four Bundesliga games and have scored 12 goals in their last three fixtures, winning 4-1 at RB Leipzig on Saturday.

Captain of the German side, goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, said that result of the last meeting would have no bearing on the game at the Camp Nou.

“So many things have changed in the meantime. We’re not thinking about that 8-2 win. We’re playing a new team, we have a new team,” Neuer said.

“We’ll obviously never forget our game in 2020, but these are two new group stage games and we’re looking forward to two big ones.”

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