Barca needs spirit of 2009

There were very few positives for FC Barcelona to take from their 4-0 UEFA Champions League semi-final first-leg defeat at FC Bayern München last Tuesday, but if history is anything to go by then the Spanish side – though down – are not yet out.

Tito Vilanova's charges will be buoyed by the fact the Bundesliga champions have lost 4-0 away from home in UEFA competition on four occasions, with their most recent reverse by that scoreline coming at Camp Nou in a 2008/09 UEFA Champions League quarter-final first leg. A breathtaking first-half display by Josep Guardiola's Barcelona simply blew Bayern away: Lionel Messi scored twice either side of a Samuel Eto'o strike and Thierry Henry added a fourth. The Catalan team saw out a 1-1 draw in the return match and went on to lift the trophy, triumphing 2-0 against Manchester United FC in the Stadio Olimpico final in Rome.

Franz Beckenbauer described that April 2009 evening as "the most horrible thing I have ever seen from Bayern", so it was quite a contrast last week when the club's chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge struggled to contain his excitement, saying: "I have never experienced a night like this and I have been around for quite some time."

Still, a repeat of Barça's emphatic Camp Nou victory of four years ago would take this tie to extra time – and give the Azulgrana the chance to claim the record for the biggest first-leg deficit overturned in the UEFA Champions League era. That accolade is held by fellow Spaniards RC Deportivo La Coruña, who recovered from a 4-1 loss at AC Milan with a 4-0 home win in the 2003/04 quarter-finals.

UEFA.com hears from the protagonists of a classic game which Barcelona will need to reprise if they are to reach their third final in five seasons.


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