Let’s be honest. Modern football depends heavily on football. And Barcelona’s failure to qualify for the UEFA Champions League knockout stage will cost them heavily. Oh, and they lost to Bayern 3-0 at home. But that’s hardly news, is it?The Bundesliga champions thumped Xavi’s team at Camp Nou and left them reeling with the realisation that they’re not at the top of world football. They’re not even close. First-half goals from Sadio Mane and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting all but secured the win for the Bavarians. Mane applied the classiest of finishes from a delicious deep pass from Serge Gnabry. Cameroon international Choupo-Moting doubled the lead with a firm finish through the legs of Marc-Andre Ter Stegen.To say that Barca had glimmers of hope would perhaps be an overstatement, but they did have a penalty shout towards the end of the first 45. Former Bayern world-beater Robert Lewandowski tumbled in the box after a coming together with Matthijs De Ligt, referee Anthony Taylor pointed to the spot. Still, the decision was overturned after a VAR review.Gnabry found the net with a precise left-footed curler ten minutes after the restart, but Barca were left off the hook that time because the former Arsenal midfielder had been just offside prior to getting the shot away.Xavi must have had a big speech during the half-time break. He probably uttered the word “pride” in his team talk more than once. At least, that’s how Barca played for the remainder of the match. They gave it their best, attacked and tried to get at least one goal against superior opposition. However, it wasn’t enough. In fact, they only managed to concede another goal to Benjamin Pavard deep in added time.The final whistle blew, the match was over, and the disappointed home fans left home. But the real struggle has only begun for one of the planet’s most famous football clubs.After spending around $146 million on transfers thanks to the activation of a series of ‘economic levers’, president Joan Laporta and his board had banked on not only reaching the round of 16 in the Champions League but making at least the quarter-finals. How utterly unrealistic they were. And how harsh the punishment will be.Inter’s dominant win over Viktoria made the match against Bayern virtually irrelevant, leaving them with around $19.5 million less than expected. Still, the damage will be even worse by the end of the season.BARCELONA ARE BACK IN THE EUROPA LEAGUE 😱 pic.twitter.com/hROJxQcpBZ— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) October 26, 2022 Barca have earned $18.5 million in the group stage so far: $15.2 million for qualifying for the competition, $2.7 million for their only victory against Viktoria Plzen, and $904,000 for the draw against Inter. After another humiliation at the hands of Bayern, they can already start preparing for Europa League, Europe’s second-tier international club competition. Will they be happy about it? Absolutely not.Barca have lost out on $19.6 million overall, not counting other income such as matchday revenue and television rights.Busquets is booed and whistled as he comes off for Barcelona. « You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. » pic.twitter.com/W3zAFGgGgR— Barça Worldwide (@BarcaWorldwide) October 26, 2022 Semi-final qualification is worth $12.1 million to four teams and the final $15 million more to two with the winner taking home an extra $4.4 million. Those are pretty sums – but Joan Laporta, Xavi and everyone connected to the club can forget about them. We’re back at talking financial levers, fiscal acrobatics, economic somersaults and other such manoeuvres. The iconic Camp Nou is engulfed in darkness yet again.CHAMPIONS LEAGUEGroup stage – Round 5TuesdaySalzburg – Chelsea 1-2 (1-1)/Adamu 48 – Kovacic 23, Havertz 64/Sevilla – Copenhagen 3-0 (0-0)/En-Nesyri 61, Isco 88, Montiel 90/Dinamo Zagreb – Milan 0-4 (0-1)/Gabbia 39, Leao 49, Giroud 59, Ljubicic (og) 69/Celtic – Shakhtar 1-0 (1-0)/Giakoumakis 34 – Mudryk 58/RB Leipzig – Real Madrid 3-1 (2-1)/Gvardiol 13, Nkunku 18, Werner 81 – Vinicius 44, Rodrygo 90+4 (p)/Dortmund – Man.City 0-0Benfica – Juventus 4-3 (3-1)/Silva 17, Mario 28(p), Rafa Silva 35, 50 – Kean 22, Milik 77, McKenna 79/PSG – Maccabi Haifa 7-2 (4-1)/Mesi 19, 44, Mbappe 32, 64, Neymar 35, Goldberg 67, Soler 84 – Seck 38, 50/WednesdayClub Brugge – Porto 0-4 (0-1)/Taremi 33, 70, Evanilson 57, Eustaquio, 60/Inter – Plzen 4-0 (2-0)/Mkhitaryan 35, Dzeko 42, 66, Lukaku 87/Ajax – Liverpool 0-3 (0-1)/Salah 42, Nunez 49, Elliott 52/Atletico Madrid – Bayer Leverkusen 2-2 (1-2)/Carrasco 22, De Paul 50 – Diaby 9, Hudson-Odoi 29/Barcelona – Bayern 0-3 (0-2)/Mane 10, Choupo-Moting 31, Pavard 90+5/Eintracht Frankfurt – Olympique de Marseille 2-1 (2-1)/Kamada 3, Kolo Muani 27 – Guendouzi 22/Napoli – Rangers 3-0 (2-0)/Simeone 11, 16, Ostigard 80/Tottenham – Sporting CP 1-1 (0-1)/Bentancur 80 – Edwards 22/
