Marc-André ter Stegen told Leon Goretzka that FC Barcelona was happy that they won’t face Bayern Munich in the Champions League

Bayern Munich nearly finished second in the Bundesliga last season only for them to pip Borussia Dortmund to the Meisterschale. Oddly enough, FC Barcelona are happy that Bayern won the league — because that meant that they wouldn’t get each other in the group stages:

Quotes are from Sport1 journalists Kerry Hau and Patrick Berger via @iMiaSanMia:

“We joked here [at the Germany national team camp] with Marc-André ter Stegen. He told us that in Barcelona they are very happy that we won the league — because of that they will not draw us in the Champions League. Next year we want to and will really attack in all competitions,” Goretzka remarked.

Photo by Manu Fernandez/Pool via Getty Images

The UCL isn’t all fun and games as Bayern have had a sweep of the group stage only to stumble in the knockouts, something that Goretzka considers unacceptable:

“You have to divide the season into two parts. The first part was very good, the second was bad and cannot be accepted. We have to be blamed for that. But if you look at our performances in the Champions League, we had a very good season before we lost to [Manchester City],” said Goretzka. “We played against great teams and had some really great nights. Unfortunately, we lost everything against City in 20 to 30 minutes and we were rightly eliminated in the end.”