Without Messi to rely on as it had for years, Barcelona was running scared from the start as it focused on protecting itself from another embarrassing defeat.
The final score hid the total dominance of the Bundesliga powerhouse. Barcelona had two wins and a draw in its three previous matches, all in the Spanish league, that it had played this season after its wretched finances had kept it from resigning Messi. But there is a difference in talent and a difference between a team that has played a long time together and our team with lots of young players.
It is difficult to accept, but we have to keep working. After going undefeated in 38 consecutive Champions League home games until last year, Barcelona has lost three in a row. Bayern arrive in Portugal on the back of a scintillating run of results: 23 competitive matches in and not a single defeat. The other result was a draw with RB Leipzig - the only team to stop Bayern scoring this year.
In fact, since that game on 9 February, the Munich side have won ALL 18 matches across the league, cup and in Europe - a record run for a German club in professional football.
How does this run compare with teams around the world? Quite simply, it's peerless. No side in any top division on the planet currently comes close to that game winning run. Their 31 goals also represents a new best mark.
How many times in recent years has Messi gone into a match as anything but the best goalscorer on the field? Why is that? Because we beat Barcelona? Anyone can can beat them these days. Granada and Cadiz are La Liga fodder teams, and they drove Barca up the wall. They had freaking Luuk de Jong starting up top — what kind of Bayern defense would let him score? Ronald Koeman has never been more than a mediocre coach at club-level, and he was supposed to challenge Nagelsmann?
The game was meaningless, but fans and the media are giving it too much importance. We believe in these players. We believe in the manager. He was joined by new arrival Luuk de Jong, who made his debut after a last-minute move from Sevilla. The closest it came to even making Manuel Neuer work was a desperate try by Sergio Busquets from long range that sailed wide shortly before Lewandowski doubled the lead when he put in a rebound from a shot by Jamal Musiala. A hamstring problem that forced Jordi Alba off let year-old Alejandro Balde make his competitive debut.
Philippe Coutinho came on as a late substitute for his first match for Barcelona since a left knee injury he suffered in December. But we had this game under control and we showed we were here for the three points. Share Via. AP , Barcelona.
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