Hector Bellerin embarrassed by Sadio Mane as Barcelona’s nightmare continues
Hector Bellerin suffered punishment at the feet of Sadio Mane during Bayern Munich’s 3-0 Champions League demolition of Barcelona on Wednesday night.
Bayern made it six wins in a row against the Catalan club following a dominant performance at the Camp Nou. It took Sadio Mane just nine minutes to put the Bavarians in front, before Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Benjamin Pavard put the game out of reach for the home side and knocked them out of the competition.
At fault for both of the first two goals was former Arsenal right-back Bellerin, who looked off the pace for much of the evening.
READ MORE: Barcelona out of Champions League in group stages for second year in a row
The 27-year-old received the nod over Sergi Roberto but was relentlessly tormented by the pace of Mane, whom he would have known plenty about already from their time in the Premier League.
Bellerin was caught ball-watching as Serge Gnaby dissected Barcelona’s defence with a simple through ball for the first goal. Rather than pushing up with his fellow defenders to play Mane offside, the Spaniard was left to take on the reigning African Player of the Year in a footrace.
The ex-Arsenal defender’s pace appeared a shadow of its heyday in north London as Mane sprinted to the ball first and shrugged off his attempted challenge, before chipping it over Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Do you think Hector Bellerin is still good enough for Champions League football? Let us know in the comments section.
Bellerin’s return from injury was marked by another major error. A superbly-worked Bayern counter before half-time saw the full-back and Marcos Alonso face three opposition attackers.
While Alonso closed down the initial pass, Bellerin was once more too eager to track back and engage in a footrace. He played Choupo-Moting onside as the Cameroonian controlled the ball and slotted it past the goalkeeper in clinical fashion.
Bellerin was equally ineffective in an attacking sense as he did little to support Ousmane Dembele on the right flank. Barcelona's disjointed play meant they were unable to create high quality chances, with a rescinded penalty decision being the closest they came to scoring.
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