Over the past few seasons, FC Barcelona have been carrying a monkey on their back due to their inability to secure a victory over Bayern Munich. Ever since the fateful 8-2 night, things have never been the same for the Spanish club.
There have been false starts that have given hope, such as the first half of the first leg in Munich a couple of seasons ago, where Barcelona was the better team on the night. However, Bayern ran away with a 2-0 win by the end of 90 minutes.
However, Hansi Flick’s Barcelona have managed to get rid of the monkey with an incredible 4-1 win over Bayern last night in the league phase of the Champions League. A hattrick from Raphinha and a goal from Lewandowski was sufficient for the Catalan club to emerge victorious.
Except for 15 minutes in the first half, Barcelona were by far the better team on the pitch and the final result is no coincidence. Bayern struggled to break Hansi Flick’s team’s press as well as the Catalan club did on the night.
Post-game, as quoted by Mundo Deportivo, Vincent Kompany was quizzed on the reasons for the defeat to Bayern. The German team’s coach admitted that there were no excuses and just congratulated FC Barcelona. Here is what he had to say:
“Why did we lose? There are no excuses for today’s defeat. I want to congratulate FC Barcelona on this victory.”
Kompany will know deep down that Barcelona beat them at their own game. Both managers set their team up fairly identically and instructed them to hold high lines. Flick’s men showed better quality to break the defensive line than Bayern did.
FC Barcelona showed relentlessness. They pressed for the entire game and thanks to the scoreline, they were even able to rotate some of their important players ahead of El Clasico which is scheduled for the coming weekend.
Hansi Flick’s men will be happy to have finally broken the Bayern jinx but the important thing is to continue the good work and put in a similar display against Real Madrid. Let’s wait and see how it goes.