On October 24, both teams will play for a crucial win in the UEFA Champions League
Spanish giant Barcelona is set to take on Bayern Munich in the upcoming UEFA UCL clash on October 24. For the record, the two teams have met each other on 13 occasions in the tournament’s history. However, despite the clash often labelled as a cutthroat rivalry, Barcelona has only won two games, one of which ended in a draw. Bayern Munich won the remaining 10 games.
In short, since 1996, Bayern Munich has not only won UCL clashes against Barcelona but has also, on several occasions, won both home and away games to complete a clean sweep against the Cules.
Ahead of the October 24 game, let us revisit those UCL editions when the Bavarians whitewashed the Blaugranas.
The 1998 UCL season saw the two sides getting slotted together in Group D. Barcelona drew first blood, thanks to a penalty by Giovanni in the 29th minute, whereas Zickler equalised the game in the 48th. A strong tussle went on till the very end of the game until Salihamidžić broke the deadlock and gave Bayern the victory.
The other group match between the two also saw a defensive outing where both teams could not conduct themselves in a supreme fashion in front of each other’s nets. In the 45th minute, though, Effenberg snatched one for Bayern that helped the Bavarians achieve their first whitewash against Barcelona in the UCL.
The 2021/13 season semi-finals also saw Bayern win both its games against the Cules. In the first leg of the game at the Allianz Arena, Bayern netted four goals against Barcelona—two from Mueller and one each from Gomez and Robben. In response, Barcelona could not hit the net even once and went into the second leg with an uphill battle.
A fightback from a team like Barcelona was expected, but history repeated itself as Bayern once again defeated the Cules by three goals at the latter’s home. Robben and Mueller were again at the helm, whereas Barcelona’s defender worsened the scoreline with an own goal.
2021/22 was the third time Bayern Munich won both its home and away legs against Barcelona. Placed in Group E, Mueller kicked started Bayern’s scoreline with a goal in the 34th minute before Lewandowski scored a brace to hand over his side a compelling win over Barcelona. The second leg was no better for Barcelona as the team conceded three goals again, handing Bayern a victory of 6-0 on aggregate.
Last year, there was also a clean sweep for Bayern Munich against Barcelona. The Bavarians won the first match by two goals, whereas in the second leg, Barcelona conceded three goals and lost the two legs with an aggregate of 5-0.
October 24 will be crucial for both sides, but for Barcelona, their pride will be on stake given the long list of defeats at the hands of Bayern Munich—a history the Cules would very much like to change.
