Five key stats from Royal Antwerp 3-2 Barcelona | UEFA Champions League | OneFootball

Barcelona were condemned to a stunning 3-2 defeat by Belgian champions Royal Antwerp on the final matchday of the UEFA Champions League group stages on Wednesday.

It was yet another night to forget for the Blaugrana, who were eager to bounce back after a horrific 2-4 loss to Girona over the weekend in La Liga but were pushed further into the abyss on their trip to Belgium.

Given that the contest was inconsequential, Xavi opted to make a sea of changes to the team, with several young talents like Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez, Alejandro Balde, and Hector Fort getting a start.

As such, with an average age of 25 years and 7 days, Barcelona named their youngest starting XI in a Champions League game with Xavi as manager.

Even though it was a night to forget, Barça had one or two positives to take away from the Royal Antwerp clash, for starters the performance of Lamine Yamal, who showed some fight and finished the game with an assist for Ferran Torres’ goal.

With his assist on the night, Yamal became the first 16-year-old to be directly involved in a goal in the UEFA Champions League.

As for Torres

Meanwhile, another La Masia product, Marc Guiu, made a mark on the proceedings, scoring a goal on his Champions League debut.

At the age of 17 years and 11 months, the teenage striker became the fourth-youngest player to score for Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League, behind Ansu Fati, Bojan Krkic, and Pedri.

Xavi finds himself under the scanner after yet another disappointing display from Barcelona in the Champions League.

The loss to Antwerp last night meant that the 43-year-old has the worst win percentage (42.8%, 6 wins in 14 games) for a Barcelona manager in the UEFA Champions League.

Xavi has now lost six of his 14 matches in charge of Barcelona in the Champions League. It took Pep Guardiola 52 games to lose as many while Luis Enrique needed 32.