For many years, Bayern Munich was Barcelona’s Bestia Negra – the Black Beast that even Barca could not defeat.
The Spanish media coined the term as the Champions League defeats piled up, and it stuck with them as Barcelona moved away from their best performances of the early 2010s.
So it’s only fitting that Wednesday’s thrashing of Bayern Munich was the best evidence yet of Barca’s resurgence.
‘Barcelona defeated Bayern Munich 4-1 in the third round of the Champions League and played the dynamic football that has propelled them to the top of La Liga ahead of this season’s first El Clasico, which will take place on Saturday against Real Madrid.
They demonstrated this from the opening minutes on Wednesday at their temporary home stadium, the Stade de Montjuïc. Rafinha, whose place in the team once seemed proof of Barca’s decline, finished off a quick, energetic passage with the first of his three goals of the evening.
In terms of the balance of play, Barca were neither three goals nor a world away from being better than Bayern. Harry Kane scored a goal that was disallowed due to a slight offside. Throughout the first half, Bayern bombarded Barca’s back line with attack after attack.
‘Barcelona is not just in first place, three points ahead of Real Madrid. They have already scored 33 goals. Robert Lewandowski, the author of the second goal against Bayern, has already scored 12 in the league and 15 in all competitions.
Next up is the main rival, the current Spanish and European champion, Real Madrid.