Before Barcelona even kicked the ball at Camp Nou on Wednesday, it knew that its Champions League fate was already sealed.
Inter Milan’s 4–0 win over Viktoria Plzen in one of the day’s early matches clinched the Italian side’s place in the last 16 and ensured that Barcelona will be dumped in to the Europa League’s knockout phase as a third-place group finisher behind Bayern and Inter. With Inter six points clear of Barcelona, Xavi’s side—before ultimately losing 3–0 to Bayern—could have done no better than match the Nerazzurri on points, and by virtue of Inter’s win and draw against Barcelona in group play, it held the head-to-head tiebreaker.
That left Barça in third, and with Viktoria Plzen on no points and Barcelona on four, the group is settled with a match still to play. Bayern cannot be caught for first in the group, Inter cannot be caught for second and Barcelona cannot be caught for third.
