UEFA Champions League: Bayern clinches 3-0 win against eliminated Barca to top group C

Goals by Sadio Mane, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Benjamin Pavard earned Bayern Munich a 3-0 victory at already-eliminated Barcelona on Wednesday as the German giants clinched a spot in the Champions League round of 16 as group winners.

Bayern‘s Benjamin Pavard celebrates with his teammates after scoring his side’s third goal during the Champions League Group C match between Barcelona and Bayern Munich at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022. | Photo Credit: AP Photo/Joan Monfort

Goals by Sadio Mane, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Benjamin Pavard earned Bayern Munich a 3-0 victory at already-eliminated Barcelona on Wednesday as the German giants clinched a spot in the Champions League round of 16 as group winners.

Bayern tops Group C on 15 points, five ahead of Inter Milan which also reached the knockout stage after a 4-0 win at Viktoria Plzen earlier on Wednesday, a result that eliminated Barcelona in the group stage for the second year in a row.

With Barcelona having nothing riding on the result, it did not take long for Bayern to open the scoring through Mane 10 minutes into the first half after receiving a brilliant long pass from Serge Gnabry.

Sane beat Spanish defender Hector Bellerin in a 50-metre race and scored with a tidy finish.

Bayern doubled their lead in a similar fashion 21 minutes later, catching the Barca defence sleeping and out of position.

Joshua Kimmich passed to Gnabry, who, from the edge of the box, set up Choupo-Moting to score his sixth goal in the Champions League this season.

Bayern took its foot off the gas after the break, but there was still time for Pavard to score in the very last play of the game, with a close-range strike from a corner.