Barcelona's head coach, Xavi Hernandez, admitted on Wednesday that "his team cannot currently compete with teams like Bayern Munich and Inter Milan." Xavi's comments came after Barcelona lost 0-3 at home to Bayern Munich in the fifth and penultimate round of the Champions League group stage, a tournament from which Barcelona has already been eliminated.
Xavi told the "Movistar Plus" channel: "We must face our new reality. We did not perform at the necessary level to compete today. I believe the psychological aspect affected us as we entered the match already eliminated from the competition."
He added, "We started the season with very high expectations but competed in a very complex group and failed to reach the level needed to compete with them. It's a big disappointment."
Bayern leads Group C with 15 points, five points ahead of Inter Milan, which also advanced to the Round of 16 after defeating Czech side Viktoria Plzeň 4-0 earlier on Wednesday. The Italian team's victory was the result that eliminated Barcelona from the group stage for the second consecutive year.
Since last winning the Champions League title in 2015, Barcelona reached the semifinals once in 2019, lost 2-8 to Bayern in the quarterfinals in 2020, exited the competition in the Round of 16 against Paris Saint-Germain in 2021, and then failed to progress beyond the group stage in the last two editions of the tournament.
Barcelona was eliminated from the tournament last season in the group stage following Lionel Messi's departure to Paris Saint-Germain, along with a financial crisis that led to the resignation of the entire board of directors.
However, this season, after notable signings and significant spending, including acquiring Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, and Jules Koundé, better results were expected. The Catalan team has only won one of the five matches it has played in the tournament so far and will move on to the Europa League after finishing the group stage in third place for the second consecutive time.
