How many times have Barcelona appeared in Europa League & have they ever won it?

Barcelona were condemned to the Europa League without kicking a ball on Wednesday, as Inter Milan’s victory over Viktoria Plzen ended the Catalan giants’ hopes of qualifying for the Champions League last 16.

Inter through to last 16 at Barcelona’s expense

A Henrikh Mkhitaryan header, a double by Edin Dzeko and a late strike by Romelu Lukaku earned Inter a 4-0 home win in one of the day’s early Champions League kickoffs - a result that gave the second-placed Italians an unassailable lead over Barça in Group C.

Defeat for Plzen means the group’s bottom team cannot now catch Barça, so Xavi Hernández’s men host already-through Bayern Munich at 3pm ET - a match you can follow live with AS USA - knowing they are certain to finish third and drop into Europe’s second-tier competition.

Having dug very deep to fund a bumper summer outlay on transfers, the loss of Champions League income is one that Barça, whose debt was estimated at €1.3bn when Joan Laporta took over as president last year, can scarcely afford.

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Barcelona’s 13th time in the Europa League/UEFA Cup

The Blaugrana must now prepare for a second appearance in the Europa League since the competition’s 2009 rebrand from the UEFA Cup, and their 13th campaign overall in the tournament’s 51-year history.

Having also had to settle for a third-place finish in their Champions League group last season, it is the second straight year that Barça have slipped from the continent’s elite competition into the Europa League.

How many times have Barça won the Europa League/UEFA Cup?

In a word, never. It’s the only European trophy they’ve contested that they haven’t managed to win. The club have five Champions Leagues/European Cups, four Cup Winners’ Cups, three Inter-Cities Fairs Cups and five UEFA Super Cups to their name, but the best they have managed in the Europa League/UEFA Cup is the last four.

Infamous home defeat ends 2021/22 Europa League bid

After dropping into the Europa League last season, Barça were immediately installed among the favourites to win the tournament, but their campaign came to an end in the quarter-finals, in ignominious circumstances.

After knocking out Napoli and Galatasaray, Xavi’s men faced Eintracht Frankfurt in the last eight. A 1-1 first-leg draw in Germany appeared to set the Catalans up nicely to finish the job at the Camp Nou, but it was Eintracht who triumphed in Barcelona, securing a 3-2 victory on the night.

And, to make matters worse for Barça, they suffered the embarrassment of seeing an estimated 30,000 travelling fans take their seats inside the Camp Nou, turning the second leg into a quasi-home game for the visitors.

That Eintracht supporters were able to get their hands on so many tickets - far more than the club’s official allocation of 5,000 - came down in no small part to Barça season-ticket holders’ willingness to sell their seats, as home fans skipped the game to enjoy their Easter holidays. “We can’t allow this,” Laporta said. “We’re getting information from the security and ticketing departments. We will take measures.”

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Last reached semi-finals in 2001

Last season was Barça’s first appearance in the Europa League/UEFA Cup since 2003/04. That year, in what was their first campaign under Frank Rijkaard, the Blaugrana saw off Matador Púchov, Panionios and Brondby in the opening three rounds, before a 1-0 aggregate defeat to Celtic in the last 16.

Three seasons earlier, in 2000/01, Barça made their fourth and most recent appearance in the competition’s semi-finals. After eliminating Club Brugge, AEK Athens and Celta Vigo, a side coached by Lorenç Serra Ferrer were edged out by Liverpool in the last four, Gary McCallister’s penalty proving the difference in the second leg at Anfield.

Barcelona also made semi-final exits in the 1995/96, 1977/78 and 1975/76 UEFA Cups.

Barcelona’s 12 Europa League/UEFA Cup campaigns so far: how they fared

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