Barcelona 2-8 (EIGHT) Bayern: Player Ratings as Bavarians Eat Barça's Souls
By Tom Gott
Bayern Munich left Barcelona feeling utterly humiliated as they romped to an emphatic 8-2 victory on Friday to book their place in the Champions League semi-final.
Despite a positive start for Barcelona, it took Bayern just three minutes to open the scoring through Thomas Müller, who found himself free in the box to fire home. However, it was 1-1 just three minutes later after David Alaba sliced a cross into his own net. Fans then had to wait a whopping 15 minutes for another goal, but then it got a little crazy as Ivan Perišić, Serge Gnabry and Müller all found the back of the net before the break.
Ten minutes into the second half, Barça got one back through Luis Súarez's low drive, but their fun was quickly over after Joshua Kimmich finished off a ridiculous run from Alphonso Davies to make it 5-2. With Barça's spirit broken, Robert Lewandowski added a sixth late on, and the humiliation was compounded as Philippe Coutinho netted twice against his parent side to make it 8-2.
Let's get into some player ratings.
BARCELONA
1. Goalkeeper & Defenders
Marc-André ter Stegen (GK) - 1/10 - Couldn't do much about any of the goals but hardly helped himself with some awful passing. Has anyone told him Thiago plays for Bayern these days?
Nélson Semedo (RB) - 1/10 - Loved bursting forward but capitulated at the back, giving Bayern far too much space all night. Didn't learn from any mistakes.
Gerard Piqué (CB) - 1/10 - Failed to organise the defence whatsoever and looked more like an amateur player than a top-tier defender.
Clement Lenglet (CB) - 1/10 - Made a good block to stop the beating from getting worse but didn't cover himself in glory for the other 89 minutes.
Jordi Alba (LB) - 1/10 - Sloppy in attack and missing in defence. Gifted Gnabry all the space he could have wanted and then some.
2. Midfielders
Sergi Roberto (CM) - 2/10 - Awful touch gifted Bayern an easy second goal. Looked lost at both ends of the field as Bayern danced around him in the first half.
Sergio Busquets (DM) - 2/10 - Instead of shielding the defence, Busquets played as a central midfielder, but his lack of pace left him stranded all game.
Frenkie de Jong (CM) - 3/10 - Looked uncomfortable in midfield but didn't do much actively wrong, which was nice.
Arturo Vidal (AM) - 0/10 - Spent most of his time looking for a fight, kicking anyone who pulled away from him (which was everyone).
3. Forwards
Lionel Messi (ST) - 6/10 - What's that? Messi was the only player to turn up for Barcelona? *Pretends to be shocked*. Looked dangerous when on the ball but couldn't get involved enough.
Luis Suárez (ST) - 5/10 - Looked slow off the mark but took his goal with the kind of composure we've come to expect from the Uruguayan.
4. Substitutes
Antoine Griezmann - 6/10
Ansu Fati - 6/10
BAYERN MUNICH
5. Goalkeeper & Defenders
Manuel Neuer (GK) - 7/10 - Had a lot of work to do early on but made himself big to keep Barça at bay. Made an impressive save to deny Súarez.
Joshua Kimmich (RB) - 9/10 - Whether bombing down the right or drifting into midfield, Kimmich's creativity gifted Bayern chance after chance after chance. Got a goal he thoroughly deserved.
Jérôme Boateng (CB) - 5/10 - A perilously high line made life harder than it needed to be, and after struggling in the first half, he failed to deal with Súarez for Barça's second.
David Alaba (CB) - 6/10 - Will be disappointed with the own goal in what was a difficult first half, but his pace helped ensure Bayern didn't concede more.
Alphonso Davies (LB) - 8/10 - Took a while to grow into the game after being caught out of position a lot early on, but his individual run for Kimmich's goal was out of this world.
6. Midfielders
Thiago (CM) - 8/10 - Yet again, Thiago was the maestro in Bayern's midfield. He sprayed passes around all night long and was nearly perfect for the entire game.
Leon Goretzka (CM) - 8/10 - Did a lot of everything. Could be found shielding the defence, picking out a through ball and attacking crosses in the penalty area. A real menace.
Serge Gnabry (RM) - 8/10 - Tormented Alba all evening with his directness. Could have easily finished with ten goals and ten assists.
Thomas Müller (AM) - 9/10 - Bagged two goals and was unlucky not to find the third which would have taken his tally to 200 for Bayern.
Ivan Perišić (LM) - 7/10 - Doing all he can to earn a permanent move to the Allianz Arena this summer. Loved pressuring Semedo into giving up the ball and created plenty of chances.
7. Forward
Robert Lewandowski (ST) - 8/10 - Took 80 minutes to finally bag a goal but got what he deserved eventually. Piqué and Lenglet couldn't keep him under control.
8. Substitutes
Kingsley Coman - 7/10
Philippe Coutinho - 8/10
Niklas Süle - 6/10
Corentin Tolisso - 6/10
Lucas Hernández - 6/10