Leon Goretzka made no effort to avoid rubbing salt in the wounds of Lionel Messi and Barcelona following Bayern Munich’s historic Champions League victory on Friday night.
The Bundesliga giants tore Barca apart in the most humiliating fashion, pulling off an 8-2 victory to inflict the greatest ever European defeat on the Catalans.
And, after the match, reporters were keen to ask whether Messi had been Goretzka’s football idol growing up, and whether it was difficult to see him subjected to such lows.
The Germany midfielder however was in a straight-talking mood, and could only think of the remarkable success of his team’s efforts.
Producing an immediate reply, Goretzka simply said: ‘No, it didn’t hurt, it was fun actually.’
Goalscorer Thomas Muller added to the sentiments, telling reporters at full time: ‘At this moment our team is in an incredible shape.
‘We feel good after this match, it was very special. We had so much fun today.’
Messi appeared inconsolable at the final whistle, and walked from the pitch in Lisbon alone.
It is the third consecutive season in which Barca have suffered global humiliation on the Champions League stage.
In 2018 the club were eliminated by Roma, despite holding a 4-1 aggregate lead. They conceded three goals in the return fixture to be dumped out at the quarter finals stage.
A year later, in 2019, Barca took a 3-0 winning margin to Anfield, only to be turned over 4-0 by Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool who were without star duo Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino.
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