Barcelona 0 Bayern Munich 3 (Agg 0-7)

It will be an all-German Champions League final at Wembley three weeks on Saturday. In emphatic, persuasive fashion, Bayern Munich sealed the deal begun by Borussia Dortmund in Madrid on Tuesday as all of last week’s claims about the baton passing from La Liga and the Premier League to the Bundesliga had their credibility enhanced.

Barcelona had needed some sorcery to overcome the 4-0 lead Bayern raced to in the first leg but for magic you need a magician, and Lionel Messi was on the bench.

Without Messi any team would be inferior and it is no different for Barcelona, even if they still had Xavi and Andres Iniesta. But those two were substituted shortly after Arjen Robben had made the aggregate scoreline 5-0 in the 48th minute.

Gerard Pique then scored an own goal and Thomas Muller’s header made it 3-0 on the night with 15 minutes left.The Nou Camp has witnessed teams being outplayed many times — just not Barca.

Indeed, it is the first time their side have lost both legs of a European tie since 1987, when the opponents were Dundee United. Bayern looked a good team last season in reaching the Champions League final on their own turf. Now they look very good. Strong and skilful, quick but patient, Bastian Schweinsteiger personifies the Jupp Heynckes team soon to be taken over by Pep Guardiola. Schweinsteiger was immense.

This will be their third final in four years and after defeats by Inter Milan and Chelsea, there will surely be belief that this is their year. They last won the European Cup 12 years ago, beating Valencia on penalties.

 

The absence of Messi from the starting XI meant Heynckes could leave three of the six players he had on yellow cards on the bench — Dante, Luis Gustavo and Mario Gomez. Messi’s omission also meant that Fabregas was Barca’s No 9, or ‘false 9’.

 

There was one authentic striker, David Villa. But when he was robbed of the ball in the seventh minute by David Alaba, Bayern went on an 80-yard move featuring Philipp Lahm and Schweinsteiger that revealed the confidence of the visitors, not the menace of the hosts.