Barça finally broke the curse they had against Bayern Munich, whom they have faced fourteen times since 1998, and only saw victory twice. That fateful 2-8 in 2020 is still fresh in the memory of many culés, but history repeated itself in 2021 and 2022.
In the Champions League group stage of 2021-22, Barça lost 0-3 both at home and Munich. The same thing happened in October 26, 2022, the last time these two teams met. Two years later, the situation is much different: Barça achieved its first victory since 2015 against Bayern, thanks in part to Bayern's legend Robert Lewandowski.
However, Barça shone thanks to the new generation. Most of the squad in that 2-8 is gone, replaced by younger players, many still teenagers, who have proven to be more than up to the task of facing European giants like Bayern.
Barça's young generation leads the way for new European triumphs
Lamine Yamal, Fermín López, Pedri, Gavi, Cubarsí, Pau Víctor... all of them took part in a victory that will be remembered beyond its immediate relevance. It is highly unlikely that Bayern will fall out of the Champions League this league phase, but morale is low in Germany and rapturous in Barcelona, only two days before facing off against Real Madrid in El Clásico.
Both teams hammered their German Champions rivals this week, both with hat-tricks by their Brazilian stars (Raphinha, who celebrated 100 matches with Barça). But for Barça, the feeling is that the tide is finally changing for them, leaving Madrid behind in LaLiga and emerging as one of the stronger candidates to lift the Champions League ten years later.