History On FC Barcelona’s Side Versus Bayern Munich, But Quarter-Final Failures Cast Dark UCL Shadow

It can be argued that history is on FC Barcelona’s side when it comes to facing Bayern Munich in the Champions League, which indeed they shall in Lisbon on Friday.

Firing seven past Chelsea over two legs in the last 16 and lifting their domestic title for an eighth consecutive occasion, the Bavarians are one of the favorites to go all the way in the tournament’s novel Final 8 format.

Fans of Barça and La Liga would prefer to overlook the 2013 semi-finals of European club soccer’s flagship tournament, which is when Bayern thrashed the Catalans 4-0 at home and 0-3 away prior to lifting the crown at Wembley at the expense of arch rivals Borussia Dortmund.

Just two years later, though, at the same stage of the competition, the Blaugrana exacted revenge in fine fashion with a 3-0 first leg win in which Lionel Messi produced one of the last decade’s most memorable moments.

The Ballon d’Or king bagging his second of the night, an iconic dribble past Jerome Boateng left the World Cup winner face first on the hallowed Camp Nou turf, before Neymar finished the job off in stoppage time.

In Germany, Bayern scored three of their own, yet the Brazilian’s strikes in the 15th and 29th minutes guaranteed that Luis Enrique’s troops headed to Berlin to beat Juventus and secure a historic treble.

Speaking of trebles and braces, Messi raised his hands to the sky twice in the 2008-2009 quarter-finals during Pep Guardiola’s fabled maiden season. In the first leg, the tiki-taka legends humbled Munich 4-0 on home soil and then etched out a 1-1 draw in the return encounter.

This week, then, it is hoped that the Argentine can repeat these feats and put his side within two games of glory.

Yet although they seem to have a historical edge over their next rivals, past failures in the quarter-finals cast a dark shadow over Quique Setien’s depleted squad.

In 2018, the first of two back-to-back nightmares in successive years, followed-up by Anfield, occurred in Rome. Nursing a 3-1 lead, Barça crumbled 3-0 in the Stadio Olimpico and have in some ways never recovered from the debacle.

In 2013-2014 and 2015-2016, there were double defeats to Diego Simeone’s final-reaching Atletico Madrid too, and then another in 2016-2017 to eventual finalists Juventus whereby arch-nemesis Real Madrid lifted the crown in all three terms.

In a unique one-and-out affair this year, where anything can happen, it remains to be seen which of the highlighted trajectories will shape the narrative.