'Barcelona need every removal company in the city for the clearout'

Xavi was one of several Barcelona players who underperformed in the Champions League semi-final with Bayern Munich. Photograph: David Ramos/Getty Images

Newspapers in Madrid on Thursday morning proclaimed the end of the road for Barcelona's imperious era after Bayern Munich completed a ruthless 7-0 aggregate Champions League semi-final victory at the Camp Nou.

"The tie may already have been resolved after the 4-0 thrashing Bayern handed out in the first leg, but the Barça fans at least hoped for a dignified exit from Europe that in the end was only visible on the impressive mosaic held up by supporters before the game began," AS wrote.

"Barça have reached the end of a path that was glorious. They have lived the best era of their history. They will win the league, they will continue to win titles and their current model should remain, but if what happened on Wednesday was a casting to decide who is and who is not worth keeping for the future, the club will need to hire every removal company in Barcelona to help with the clearout."

Madrid's El País is equally brutal: "Barcelona is now an unrecognisable team in victory or defeat. The worst symptom was ultimately not to play Lionel Messi, but Messi knows that Bayern would have won anyway. The performance yesterday was unforgivable from a club of the greatness of Barcelona."

Only the Barcelona-based Sport, the Camp Nou's closest media ally, attempts to defend the performance: "Barça, martyred by injuries and very, very fair of forces in this final stretch of the season, were not just a little tired at this point. The symptoms of physical and mental exhaustion shown against rivals like Madrid in the Copa del Rey have been shown in a much more stark way against an energetic Bayern."

The verdict on Bayern's performance and what it means for German football is clearly evident. "At Wembley, we will see the first all-German final in Champions League history," Marca said. "Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich have fired Germany back to the top of the European football pyramid."

The German tabloid Hamburger Morgenpost agrees and is in no doubt about the significance of the week's results: "The Spaniards were disenchanted in the semi-finals. The two best teams in Europe come from the Bundesliga in its 50th anniversary year – it is a changing of the guard."

But, despite the exaltation of Bayern and the Bundesliga, there is a message of caution. "The fact is that the extremely positive development in the international field is only valid for Bayern and Dortmund," warns the German sport magazine Kicker. "The rest of the Bundesliga cannot compete nationally and demonstrated a lack of competitiveness in the Europa League."

Marca speculated on the future at Bayern's helm. "A question has now arisen and it bears asking: Will Pep Guardiola be able to fill Juup Heynckes' shoes? One almost gets the sense that Heynckes, who was reportedly rankled that Guardiola's appointment was announced much earlier than anticipated, wants to leave Guardiola with no room for any dip in performance. If that is indeed Heynckes' objective, he has done a superb job of carrying it out and could make Guardiola's first season in Germany much more uncomfortable than expected."

For now though, the German media is celebrating that two Bundesliga sides contest the Champions League final at Wembley. As Sport Bild declared: "Football's coming home."

quardian.co.uk