Barcelona eliminated from Champions League following 3-0 thrashing by Bayern Munich

La Liga giants Barcelona will not play in the Champions League knockout stage for the first time in more than 17 years courtesy of their 3-0 defeat to Bayern Munich on Thursday. The Catalan club lost the second spot in the UCL Group E points table to Benfica, who won the other clash of the evening against Dynamo Kyiv 2-0 to book a spot in the next stage of the premier European club's competition. Barcelona will now have to fight for its dignity in the playoffs of the second-tier tournament, Europa League. 

Here's how it happened? 

Barcelona's Champions League group round opened with a 3-0 loss at home against Bayern Munich of Germany. The Blaugrana's next game was much worse, as they were down to a 10-man squad and lost 3-0 to Benfica. The five-time Champions League winner then won two games in a row in the competition, beating Dynamo Kyiv 1-0 at Camp Nou and then repeating the victory away from home. Benfica managed to hold Barcelona to a 0-0 draw late last month. On Thursday, Barcelona needed a win against Bayern 

Barcelona won just two of their six games, finishing the season with seven points, one point less than Benfica. In six games, Barcelona conceded nine goals but only scored two, both against bottom-placed Dynamo Kyiv. Benfica, on the other side, managed to score seven goals and conceived nine. The last time Barcelona failed to advance to the Champions League knockout stage was back in 2003/04. The Spanish club did not play a single game in the Champions League that year due to its failure to qualify following a bad season in the local league the previous year.

Returning to Thursday's match, Barcelona needed to beat Bayern Munich and Benfica to go down against Dynamo Kyiv to keep their qualification hopes alive. The dreams at Camp Nou, however, were dashed when Barcelona lost at the Allianz Arena to a better-placed Bayern. The three goals for the home team came from Thomas Muller, Leroy Sane, and Jamal Musiala. Before the halfway break, Muller and Sane scored the first two goals, with Musiala scoring the third in the 62nd minute.

(Image: Barcelona/Twitter)