Barcelona were served a nightmarish start in Friday's UEFA Champions League quarter-final clash against Bayern Munich, with the Catalans succumbing to a massive pounding in the first half. Los Blaugrana found themselves on the wrong side of a 4-1 scoreline, a result which led to the attainment of an all-new unwanted milestone in the European cup competition.
Touted as the biggest game of the quarter-finals, the meeting between Barca and Bayern certainly lived up to the hype. Goals flew in right from the onset and the floodgates were formally opened in the 4th minute thanks to Thomas Muller's strike. Less than 180 seconds later, parity was restored after David Alaba redirected a cross from Jordi Alba into his own net.
There was barely little Barcelona could do from the 20th minute onwards with the Bavarians orchestrating one of the greatest onslaughts ever seen at this stage of the competition. Firstly, Ivan Perisic capitalized on a defensive error to squeeze in the game's third from a tight angle in the 21st minute before Serge Gnabry also benefited from a mix-up at the back to score his side's third in the 27th minute.
Four minutes later, Thomas Muller doubled his tally for the night to in what was a historic appearance for the German international. With the scores ending 4-1 in favor of Bayern, Barcelona were condemned to their heaviest first half defeat in the history of the European club competition.
See below for all of Bayern Munich's three goals in 10 minutes:
Bayern again!
— Champions League on CBS Sports (@UCLonCBSSports) August 14, 2020
Ivan Perišić blasts a left-footed strike and once again the German giants have the lead. pic.twitter.com/uzCRyP6cCG
Ruthless from Bayern Munich.
— Champions League on CBS Sports (@UCLonCBSSports) August 14, 2020
Serge Gnabry takes the Muller pass and scores their third goal in the first 30 minutes. pic.twitter.com/DhA5NxKrTk
WHAT. IS. HAPPENING.
— Champions League on CBS Sports (@UCLonCBSSports) August 14, 2020
Bayern Munich is pouring it on... pic.twitter.com/leOwIK6RZW