Reuters

German champions Bayern Munich completely humiliated Barcelona with an impressive 8-2 victory on Friday that took them to the semi-finals of the Champions League in extraordinary emphatic fashion.

Thomas Mueller scored twice for an unbridled Bayern, who led 4-1 after a staggering 31 minutes, while Lionel Messi and his teammates were sentenced to a win that felt like the end of an era for the illustrious Catalan club.

Both teams have been crowned European champions five times. But, while Bayern looks to have a real chance of claiming a sixth title next week, Barca clearly faces a major rebuilding job and it remains to be seen how many of those involved in this debacle will survive at the club.

The scoreboard was reminiscent of Germany’s 7-1 win over Brazil in the 2014 World Cup, a match in which Bayern coach Hansi Flick was on the bench as the assistant coach of the national team.

It started with Bayern taking a lead in the fourth minute when Mueller picked up an Ivan Perisic cross from the left and played a clever one-two off Robert Lewandowski before punching home.

But after three minutes Barça had counterattacked: a super long ball by Clement Lenglet found Jordi Alba in space and David Alaba’s attempt to face his center in search of the ball ended up flying over his own goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

Neuer then had to rush out of his line to thwart a Luis Suarez on goal but was almost caught by a cross-shot from Messi from the right that slid through the area and hit the post.

But just as Barca seemed to have established themselves, the Germans regained their lead in the 21st minute: Serge Gnabry fed Perisic down the left and the Croatian looked up to see his options before passing Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

Then Bayern added the third as Barca’s defense opened up again with ease. Thiago Alcántara had plenty of space in midfield to find Leon Goretzka, whose superb ball caught Gnabry, who had got behind Lenglet and then made no mistake in the shot.

Flick’s team ran wild and got worse for Barca when a low center by Joshua Kimmich was delivered at the near post by Mueller, another goal of ruthless simplicity that made it 4-1 at half-time.

OUTSTANDING WORK

The Spaniards desperately needed to find a way to change momentum after the break and Suárez, one of the few Barca players to emerge with any credit from the match, provided a route back to the game with a good shot, in the 57th minute.

Jordi Alba found Suárez on the edge of the area and the Uruguayan jinked passed Jerome Boateng before shooting home.

But Bayern was in no mood to lower the pressure and six minutes later they regained their three-goal lead thanks to outstanding work from their Canadian teenager Alphonso Davies.

The left-back dribbled from the flank, danced past Nelson Semedo to reach the baseline, and then returned the ball to teammate Kimmich to snap in and make it 5-2.

Somehow, Bayern had managed to score five goals without their prolific forward Robert Lewandowski, who had scored in his previous seven Champions League games; however, with eight minutes remaining, the Pole corrected him.

Substitute Philippe Coutinho, who is on loan to Barça’s German club, floated over a cross from the left that Lewandowski headed firmly at the far post.

To add insult to injury to the already painful injury, Coutinho scored two more before the end, while Barcelona crumbled in an unimaginable way before the brilliance of the Bavarians. Bayern, who last won Europe’s biggest prize in 2013, will face Manchester City or Olympique Lyonnais, who play on Saturday, in the last four.