Alonso, ter Stegen react after Barcelona 0-3 Bayern Munich: “Still many things to fight for”

While Inter Milan’s win in the game against Viktoria Plzen sealed Barcelona’s fate in the UEFA Champions League, many expected the Catalans to come out all guns blazing against Bayern Munich in an effort to prove themselves and make a statement.

However, what unfolded at Spotify Camp Nou was quite the contrary. Xavi’s men were handed a defeat in front of over 80,000 fans as they came clearly second best against Julian Nagelsmann’s side.

Sadio Mane opened the scoring for the Bavarians in the tenth minute and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting doubled their lead less than ten minutes later. The third goal of the night came in the final minute of stoppage time via Benjamin Pavard.

Marcos Alonso started the game at centre-back for the hosts and clearly had one of the less impressive performances of his career. Speaking to the media after his team’s defeat, the Spaniard said,

“It was a difficult match to play, we have to keep working, and thanks to everyone who attended.”

However, the former Chelsea man refused to consider the season a failure and reiterated that Barcelona were still competitive on multiple fronts.

“Have we failed? We have to talk about this at the end of the season… There are still many things to fight for.”

Alonso then said that Barcelona were ready to compete for the UCL this time around and that their elimination was a result of carelessness and poor luck.

“I think we were ready to compete in the Champions League, but we have to pay attention to the small details.”

He then explained the impact of knowing their fate before kickoff and how it affected not only the players’ mentality but their performance on the field.

“It’s hard to go out and play knowing you’re out of the tournament. We didn’t go out to give this game or this result but it turned out like that. It’s a bad experience, but we have to keep going.”

Marc Andre Ter Stegen has been phenomenal this season for Xavi’s side but even he could not save Barcelona from the ruthless Bayern attack. When asked about how he felt after the game, the shot-stopper said: “It’s a weird feeling, it’s already a matter of having some pride.”

Talking about the road ahead and the team’s next objectives after their elimination from the Tier-1 European tournament, the goalkeeper said that they would focus on the remaining competitions.

“It’s not easy, we have to focus now on La Liga and compete for the Europa League, that’s what we have to do.”

Finally, Ter Stegen accepted that the result and its consequence were difficult pills to swallow.

“It hurts me. Our goal was to stay in the Champions League. We have to criticise ourselves, we are the first to want to improve.”

Source: BarçaTV+

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