With a 3-0 win at Camp Nou on Wednesday, Bayern Munich routed Barcelona 7-0 on aggregate to reach its second straight Champions League final.
Bayern is the first runner-up to return to the final since Valencia lost to Real Madrid in 2000 and Bayern in 2001. Bayern is the fourth team to reach three Champions League finals in four years, and each of the previous three won exactly one title in that span.
Bayern will face Borussia Dortmund in the first Champions League final between two German clubs. It’s the fourth Champions League final between clubs from the same country. The last two have gone to penalties, with Manchester United topping Chelsea in 2008 and AC Milan beating Juventus in 2003.
On Wednesday, Barcelona completed 85.1 percent of its passes. While that is well above the competition average of 79.8 percent this season, it’s the lowest completion percentage for Barcelona in a Champions League game this season.
Barcelona’s resulting seven-goal aggregate loss is the club’s worst ever in the European Cup, and the last time Barcelona lost both legs of any European series was to Dundee United in the 1987 UEFA Cup.
For Bayern Munich, the seven-goal triumph is the second-largest in a European Cup semifinal. The only bigger win was Eintracht Frankfurt’s 12-4 victory over Rangers in 1960.
The last club to score seven goals in a Champions League semifinal series was also Bayern Munich, which defeated CSKA Sofia 7-4 in 1982. That Bayern team lost 1-0 to Aston Villa in the final. In fact, the previous three clubs to score seven or more goals in the semifinals all proceeded to lose the final.
Bayern is the third club to reach the European Cup final 10 times, joining Real Madrid (12) and AC Milan (11). The only club with more finals than Bayern’s five in the Champions League era is AC Milan with six.
ESPN’s Soccer Power Index projects Bayern Munich as a 76.6 percent favorite in the final against Borussia Dortmund. Whichever club wins will be the first German champion since Bayern in 2001.
Bayern Munich can follow Real Madrid, AC Milan and Liverpool as the only clubs to win five European Cup titles. Dortmund would join Bayern as the only German clubs with multiple European Cup titles.