Barcelona and Atletico Madrid have both crashed out of the Champions League with a full round of group stages remaining.
Inter joined Bayern Munich in qualifying for the Round of 16 from Group C, with their progress in the competition centred on their results against the Blaugrana earlier in the group stage. Barca's elimination was confirmed before their three-goal home defeat against Bayern Munich, as Inter ran out four-goal victors over Viktoria Plzen.
Two goals in the space of seven minutes before half-time sealed Inter's victory over their Czech opposition at the San Siro, as Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Edin Dzeko both found the net to help Inter progress. Dzeko and substitute Romelu Lukaku added further goals in the second period. Barca have picked up just one point from their last four group stage games as their fate was sealed.
The Nerazzurri defeated Xavi Hernandez's side 1-0 in matchday three in Milan – as Hakan Calhanoglu's strike before the break settled the game. It was not a game without controversy, with Barca denied a penalty in the closing minutes after Inter defender Denzel Dumfries appeared to handle the ball in the area.
However, Inter were the stronger side over the course of the group stage games with the two cancelling each other out 3-3 at the Camp Nou in matchday four. Robert Lewandowski netted a last-minute equalising header for Barca in a pulsating encounter in which the Italian side missed several glorious opportunities to secure victory on the evening.
This is the second successive campaign that Barcelona have been eliminated from the Champions League at the group stage of the competition. The previous season also saw Bayern Munich win the group, with Benfica pipping the Catalan club to second spot – with Barca condemned to the Europa League.
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Last season, Xavi's side eliminated Napoli in the Round of 32 stage of the Europa League before edging past Galatasaray in the Round of 16. However, they were downed by Eintracht Frankfurt – who went on to win the competition – at the quarter-final stage with Barca ultimately ending their campaign without a trophy.
Atletico Madrid are also out after they were held to a 2-2 draw at home to Bayer Leverkusen - meaning they cannot catch either Club Brugge or FC Porto in the standings. Incredibly, Atletico were handed a penalty via VAR after the full-time whistle but Yannick Carrasco's effort was saved with the follow-up efforts hitting the bar and then being deflected over.
