Barcelona will play Europa League football for the first time since it was the UEFA Cup in 2003-04

Barcelona will play Europa League football for the first time since it was the UEFA Cup in 2003-04.

BARCELONA will play Europa League football for the first time since it was the UEFA Cup in 2003-04 after being dumped out of the Champions League. It also represents the first time the Catalan club has not made it out of the group stages in 21 years.

Barcelona suffered another humiliating defeat to Bayern Munich, who have now won the last four head-to-heads between the two sides, including the 8-2 thumping in last year’s Champions League quarter-finals.

Speaking after the 3-0 defeat, new head coach and Barcelona legend, Xavi, said: “I already had to go to UEFA as a player. Now we will go to the Europa League to compete and try to win it, but Barça deserves to be in the Champions League, not in the Europa League. We have not been at the level of Bayern, it is the hard reality.”

Barcelona captain, Sergio Busquets, said: “This is not what the fans deserve. But it’s the reality. We are in a difficult and painful situation. There are many factors that led to this.

“Many teams have gone through the same. Barcelona is a big club. Now that we have a new management and technical staff, we have a morale boost, and we will be back.”

To rub salt into the wound, prolific Bayern striker, Thomas Müller, said: “Barca cannot cope with the intensity. Technically they have it all, great players, on a technical and tactical level. But they cannot compete at maximum intensity in top-level football.”

Barcelona will now join the likes of Lyon, Bayer Leverkusen and West Ham in the second-tier European competition.