The Camp Nou was filled with white shirts of German fans who watched their team annul Barça

Eintracht humiliate Barça on the pitch and in the stands

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The German invasion of the Camp Nou was a foregone conclusion. If not in Barcelona, it would be at the Bernabeu. The two Spanish football giants have a complicated relationship with their fans. Fed up with matches without top-class opponents, the members of the club's supporters are going on the run and putting their season tickets on sale or giving tickets to their opponents to get a few extra euros. Even Xavi did not expect the stands to be packed with Eintracht Frankfurt fans, "it was a miscalculation on our part, we are waiting for the club to check what has happened", commented the coach after the match, who defined the stadium as "that of a final, divided between two fans".

The first Stations of the Cross for Barça began with the whistles for the bus in the street, then the stands were dyed in white and then with Piqué out of the squad due to injury. Five minutes in, Eric Garcia took one of the Eintracht strikers to the ground and the referee awarded a penalty for a challenge. Kostic's thunderous celebration of Kostic's 1-0 scoreline brought the Barça players to their knees and they were left with no fans to cheer them on. The white tide of more than 30,000 Germans who took to the streets of Barcelona also took centre stage inside the stadium. Jordi Cruyff commented afterwards that "we didn't know if we were playing at home", words that reveal the club's unease and that, knowing Laporta, they will be taking responsibility in a few days and there will be dismissals. Even the Barça supporters' stand left their space at the Camp Nou empty in protest at the club's ticket sales to the Germans.

Barça's ordeal continued its ascent. Santos Borré's shot from outside the area, with no opponents around him, made it 0-2. In celebration, the Colombian player pointed to the 19 on his shorts in homage to Freddy Rincón. The historic Colombian striker and former Real Madrid striker died the same day after a traffic accident.

As if that were not enough, there was still the penance of the VAR. The device was disconnected at the worst possible moment and left the referee without a replay of a possible handball by an Eintracht defender which, if he had seen it, could have been whistled as the rules stand this season. Another circus that stopped the game for almost six minutes between reviews, connections and earpieces.

Without Pedri, substituted due to injury, the only thing left was for the stands to enjoy Kostic's 0-3 scoreline as Barça tried to replicate one of Real Madrid's two comebacks so far in the Champions League. But the Camp Nou just doesn't have those nights anymore. Busquets and Memphis made up the score, but there is no paint on the pitch and in the stands to disguise the embarrassment.

The ninth-placed team in the German league had already shown their potential in the first leg. Xavi did not take note because his style does not involve studying the opponent. He pretends to have enough ascendancy over the players to motivate them without a blackboard and that only works for the chosen ones. During the match he had hardly any ability to react. The defence is in a state of disarray and the little money Spotify pays will be used to sign centre-backs to give the back line a sense of purpose.

"How beautiful it is Easter in Barcelona!" shouted the thousands of Bavarian fans who surrounded the stadium during the match. With the procession of goals on the shoulders of their costaleros they had enough passion. The bad news is that Barça won't forget the circus that Eintracht put on a Maundy Thursday night in 2022. 

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