Robert Lewandowski scored two late goals to give Barcelona one point in an exciting draw against Inter, to keep the Spanish team’s chances of qualifying for the round of 16.
But the specter of exiting the first round of the tournament for the second year in a row still remains against Barcelona. With two matches remaining, Inter needs to beat its guest, Viktoria Plzen, the Czech Republic, next week, to join Bayern Munich in the round of 16, while Barcelona will turn to the European League.
Xavi’s statement to Movistar Plus:
• “It’s bad, I think the Champions League is hard on us. Now it’s not in our hands.”
• “What remains for us is to quickly turn our attention to the El Clasico match on Sunday (against Real Madrid). We will return and focus again in the league because the Champions League has become very difficult and complicated for us.”
• “Football is a game of mistakes and we cannot afford these mistakes in such situations. We are playing in the Champions League and we pay a heavy price for every mistake we commit.”
• “We need to win and this requires a good defense and scoring goals. We needed to perform the whole game as we did in the first half. With this strength. Now it is difficult because we are no longer in control of the situation.”
Until last year, Barcelona qualified at least for the round of 16 in the Champions League every season since 2001, but now it faces the possibility of moving to compete in the European League for the second season in a row.
Bayern Munich leads Group C with 12 points from 4 matches and has already qualified for the final price, while Inter comes second with 7 points, followed by Barcelona with 4 points, and finally Victoria Plzen without credit (and bid farewell to the competition).
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