Barcelona lose 3-0 to Bayern Munich, crash out of Champions League

Barcelona's nightmare 2021 included one final humiliation. 

Barcelona fell to Bayern Munich 3-0 on Wednesday and have crashed out of the UEFA Champions League due to Benfica beating Dynamo Kiev to finish second in the group. The Spanish giants surrendered first-half goals to Thomas Muller and Leroy Sane and a third to Jamal Musiala in the 62nd minute. 

As Simon Borg notes for Sporting News, it's the first time Barcelona were unable to advance past the group stages of the Champions League since the 2000-01 season. They failed to qualify for the 2003-04 Champions League. 

It's a fitting finish to a year that can't end soon enough for a Barcelona side ready to turn the page. Barca lost Lionel Messi to Paris Saint-Germain over the summer after they were unable to sign him to a new deal because of what they called "financial and structural obstacles (Spanish Liga regulations)," and they parted ways with then-manager Ronald Koeman in October after they fell to ninth in the La Liga table. 

Club legend Xavi replaced Koeman and has Barcelona sitting seventh in the league, 16 points behind leaders and rivals Real Madrid. Xavi is apparently targeting Liverpool star striker Mohamed Salah for his rebuild of the squad.