By John Essien
Barcelona will have their fate in their own hands when they face Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena for their last Group E clash in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday.
The Blaugrana are one of Europe’s most successful teams ever, but the club are obviously in a transition period with former player Xavi in charge as Coach and Lionel Messi moving to Paris Saint-Germain.
To progress to the knock-out phase, the Catalan giants will need to avoid defeat to Bayern regardless of Benfica’s result.
Bayern have already been confirmed as group E winners, having registered a perfect Champions League record so far, winning all five matches, so an away victory will be a daunting task for Xavi’s men.
Recall that Barcelona had suffered an embarrassing 8-2 defeat at the hands of Bayern not too long ago and will look to overcome that very memory when they square off against the Bundesliga side.
The Catalan side could have wrapped up their last-16 participation had they won their last game against Benfica, but it ended in a 0-0 draw, meaning everything will rest on this final Champions League group-stage game.
Should Barcelona draw at the Allianz tonight, they will only qualify if Benfica fail to win against Dynamo Kyiev.
The last time Barcelona failed to progress to the knockout stages of the Champions League was in the 2000-01 season, when they finished third in Group H behind AC Milan and Premier League side, Leeds United.
The last time that the Liga side were unable to qualify for the Champions League group stage entirely was in 2003, owing to their sixth-placed finish in La Liga.
