MUNICH, Germany — Second-half goals from Lucas Hernandez and Leroy Sane spoiled Robert Lewandowski‘s return to Allianz Arena as Bayern Munich defeated Barcelona 2-0 in Champions League Group C action.
It was an unhappy return to Bavaria for Lewandowski, who is Bayern’s second-highest all-time scorer but left in the summer after eight years to join the Catalan side.
The loss extends Barcelona’s rough run of results in Munich. The Blaugrana have now failed to win in their last seven visits to Bavaria, recording two draws and five defeats.
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Bayern now top of their group on six points from two matches. Barcelona are on three points, along with Internazionale. Viktoria Plzen are in last place.
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Rapid Reaction
1. Bayern dominate Barcelona once again
Bayern Munich extended their dominance over Barcelona with a 2-0 Champions League Group C victory in the Allianz Arena, recording their fifth straight win against the LaLiga giants. Two goals in the space of four minutes in the second-half — a Lucas Hernandez header on 51 minutes followed by Leroy Sane‘s solo goal three minutes after — were enough to seal the victory and move Bayern clear at the top of their group.
And the win means Bayern have now won by a margin of 19 goals to Barcelona’s four during their five-game streak, including the infamous 8-2 quarterfinal victory in Lisbon in 2020. Barca also suffered two 3-0 defeats against Julian Nagelsmann’s team last season. To compound Barcelona’s misery, Bayern have now scored 30 goals against them in the Champions League, nine more than Paris Saint-Germain, the second-most prolific team against the Spanish club.
Although they created a number of first-half chances for Robert Lewandowski, Barcelona rarely looked like emerging with a win in Germany and they had no response to Bayern’s powerhouse start to the second-half. Xavi Hernandez’s team are still clearly rebuilding after the departure of Lionel Messi to PSG last year and they looked a level below Bayern who once again inflicted a humbling defeat on the five-time Champions League winners.
