Barcelona defeat Juventus 3-1 to win Champions League and clinch 2nd treble
Barcelona defeated Juventus 3-1 in the Olympiastadion in Berlin thanks to goals from Ivan Rakitic, Luis Suarez and Neymar while Juventus scored their goal through Alvaro Morata. In what was an end-to-end match, the Spaniards had too much firepower in the end for the Turin giants.
The match saw two contrasting halves, a first half in which Barcelona took the lead very early through Rakitic in the 4th minute (3rd fastest goal in Champions League finals history) but went on to then keep the ball, as they weren’t able to get a lot working going forward, and had to stay happy circulating the ball. Juventus, were a little defensive, and tried to go forward more once they had conceded the early goal, but looked to stay solid and then break on the counter.
The Catalans tried their best to double their advantage, as Neymar went close with a shot from outside the box while Alves saw his shot saved brilliantly by Gianluigi Buffon.
The second half though was played at breakneck speed, with both teams attacking with fervour and intent as the Italians looked to get back into the match while Barca were looking to cement their advantage.
The first opportunity in the second half fell to Luis Suarez, who was put through on goal by Rakitic after a counter-attack that saw the Juventus defense outnumbered. However, the Uruguayan’s outside of the right foot shot was saved by Buffon. Then Lionel Messi went close after exchanging one-twos with both Neymar and Suarez.
The next attack came from Juventus in the 55th minute, and it led to their goal. Claudio Marchisio’s brilliant back-heel put Lichtsteiner through, who then passed it to Tevez, who shot on the turn was saved by Ter Stegen. However, he was helpless for the rebound, which was put in by Alvaro Morata, the one who put former club Real Madrid out of the competition.
A brilliant, jinking run and turn by Iniesta saw him get free, and he almost put Suarez through, but his pass was just a little heavy. Juventus then had a decent penalty shout, as Dani Alves put his hands on Pogba in the penalty box, but the Bianconeri didn’t see themselves awarded a spot-kick, which could have been given.
Immediately after that, Messi ran with the ball to release a shot towards the far corner, which was parried by Buffon, only into the path of Suarez, who finished it calmly to put the Catalans 2-1 up after 69 minutes. Juventus then did get a chance when Pogba could have made Ter Stegen pay for some sloppy goalkeeping, but his header went over the bar.
Barcelona then had a goal disallowed as Neymar’s headed effort was ruled out for handball. It looked a little unfortunate though, as there seemed to be very little intent, and seemed accidental.
As Juventus threw bodies forward to try and get the equaliser, Barcelona broke in numbers, and Pedro then setup Neymar for the goal that sealed the result, as the Brazilian’s left-footed effort nestled in the bottom corner.
Barcelona thus clinched their 5th Champions League crown, and 4th in the last 10 years, as they also secured their 2nd treble. Here are the highlights: