Frenkie de Jong and his Barcelona teammates were resigned to their Champions League fate before Bayern Munich’s Camp Nou procession had even got underway.
Inter Milan’s 4-0 romp over Viktoria Plzen in the early window of Wednesday night’s games, meant that even if the Blaugrana upset the odds against Bayern - it would count for nought. Picking up one point across two fixtures with the Italians meant their hopes of qualification lay in the hands of Group C’s minnows.
Had Plzen got an unlikely result, perhaps Xavi’s side would have put up some kind of fight against Bayern. But even that seems fanciful after a 3-0 domination perfectly encapsulated where the two European heavyweights currently find themselves.
