Newspapers in Madrid Thursday proclaimed the end of the road for Barcelona’s imperious era after Bayern Munich completed a ruthless 7-0 aggregate Champions League semifinal 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 Barca 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.

“Barca 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 semifinals. The two best teams in Europe come from the Bundesliga in its 50th anniversary year – it is a changing of the guard.”