Barcelona's disintegration and the decadence that can befall a super-club | Jonathan Wilson

The humiliation by Bayern was a capitulation of a major side on a level not seen since the World Cup semi-final in 2014

Barcelona cannot say they were not warned. Since 2017, their exits from the Champions League have been becoming increasingly embarrassing. Humiliation has followed humiliation. Perhaps finally now, after their 8-2 humbling against Bayern, their worst defeat since 1946, a performance that became shameful in its ineptitude, action will be taken.

Occasionally matches take place that are the meeting of two historical trends. Here, on the one hand, there was the tactical dominance of Germany, the high line and the hard press, the slick muscularity, the rapid exchanges of a well-structured attack, that have become increasingly familiar at the highest level. And there, fatted on success, was the decadence that can befall a super-club.

Related: 'Shameful end of an era': Spanish press reacts to Barcelona's battering

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