1 Barça are not finished – but probably on their way down

The Barcelona players could not be faulted for effort in this second leg but this was – as expected – a lost cause. There will be plenty of people who will be prepared to write Barcelona off – especially with a 7-0 aggregate scoreline – but it is not that easy. The Catalans have had a difficult season with Pep Guardiola leaving last summer and Tito Vilanova’s illness. Next season should be more settled, although there is no question that this team is a shadow of the one that destroyed Manchester United in the Champions League final at Wembley two years ago. It is not that the current side is poor, but it is a bit like Nirvana following up Nevermind with In Utero two years later. The same lineup, the same riffs and the same ideas – just not as good.

2 The art of walking a yellow-card tightrope





Bayern Munich had six players on a yellow card going into this second leg and, while three of them were on the bench, Philipp Lahm, Javi Martínez and Bastian Schweinsteiger all started with a cloud hanging over them with the prospect of missing the final if they were booked. The Bayern manager, Jupp Heynckes had to start them but he was probably comforted by the knowledge that all three are very clever footballers. Throughout the night, none of them were in danger of being booked. They were simply in the right place at the right time throughout, with no need for rash challenges. And then, when Bayern took the lead, Heynckes did the obvious thing andtook all three off.

3 The Schweinsteiger– Martínez tandem is awesome





Has there ever been a better defensive midfield pairing than Martínez and Schweinsteiger? For a long time everyone in the world of football was talking about the “Makélélé role” and how important such a player was for teams and here we have a Bayern team with not only one Makélélé but two. What’s more, they are both much better than the Frenchman at passing and breaking forward. They are so good at protecting their back four that Barcelona hardly created any chances throughout the 180 minutes. A Barça team who had scored 77 goals in 26 matches at Camp Nou this season. No wonder the Bayern centre-back Dante said this season that the club’s training sessions were tougher than most Bundesliga games. Simply awesome.

4 Fábregas looks lost in this Barcelona team





The former Arsenal captain is coming to the end of his second season at Camp Nou and it is a shame to see him so hesitant and lacking in confidence. On Wednesday night he was playing as the focal point of the Barça attack with Lionel Messi not risked, but he failed to make any impact whatsoever against a Bayern defence missing Dante, who was not feeling well. Cesc Fábregas is unlikely to be regretting his move – Arsenal, after all, have just been fighting to be in the top four for the past two seasons – but will he consider going somewhere else in the summer? He is 25 and it is clear that he has stagnated.

5 Mandzukic is one of the signings of the season





Mario Mandzukic arrived in the summer in what Bayern considered an upgrade on Mario Gómez which, considering the German had scored 41 goals the previous season, shows how highly the Bavarians rate the Croat. Bayern paid only €13m (£11m) for the player who was joint-top scorer at Euro 2012, which is £4m less than Liverpool paid for Joe Allen, for example, and it was money extremely well spent. Mandzukic has scored 20 goals this season but offers so much more than goals. He is a tireless worker and holds the ball up much better than Gómez. Against Barcelona he had a quiet game but harassed Gerard Piqué and Marc Bartra throughout so that they could not pick out their midfielders with any easy passes and was often seen chasing Andrés Iniesta, Xavi and Alex Song in midfield.