Inter Milan sent Barcelona into the Europa League and guaranteed their place in the UEFA Champions League knockout round after defeating Viktoria Plzen 4-0.
Inter easily obtained the victory they required to advance to the round of 16, thanks to a late goal from substitute Romelu Lukaku, who had just made his injured return.
Following Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s first goal, Edin Dzeko scored twice.
Inter Milan’s final opponent, Bayern Munich clinched first place in Group C with 15 points after 3-0 victory over Barcelona on Wednesday night.
Simone Inzaghi’s Inter sit 2nd with 10 points from five games.
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Barcelona earned just four out of a potential 15 points to finish third in the group, and they will now play in Europe’s second-tier league for the second straight year.
Bayern maintained their current domination over the Blaugrana last night.
Ten minutes into the game, Sadio Mane was found behind Hector Bellerin by Serge Gnabry, who then pushed the ball to his right before chipping an advancing Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Bayern increased their lead in the 31st minute after launching a quick counterattack from Gnabry through the middle and releasing Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting down the right to slide home a low finish.
Barcelona thought they had been given a lifeline when a penalty for a foul on Robert Lewandowski was awarded just before halftime.
However, the decision was overturned after VAR was used.
After the break, Gnabry had a third goal disallowed for offside, but Benjamin Pavard made up for it by scoring the game’s last goal from a corner in the dying moments.
Barcelona ultimately had no shots on goal in the game, which sums up their disappointment on the evening they were eliminated from the Champions League group stage for the second consecutive season.
Barcelona coach Xavi said that Inter’s action practically rendered Bayern’s match against Barcelona meaningless.
“Today we didn’t compete, we didn’t reach their level,” Xavi admitted.
“They were very good, much better, more intense.”
“I’m sure that the elimination before the game affected us psychologically. I’m sure it did.”
“We were drawn in a really difficult group and everything has happened to us in the Champions League. It was very cruel, but today we didn’t compete. On other days we did, but not today.”
“I understand that from the outside people talk about failure, but from the inside we have a different analysis.”
“It’s a cruel way to go out of the competition, but if we analyse the other games, I think we deserved more.”
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