Records and Milestones set by Barcelona and Juventus after 2014/15 Champions League final
Barcelona completed a historic treble when they beat Juventus 3-1 in the UEFA Champions League final. The La Liga champions took the lead early through Ivan Rakitic, but Alvaro Morata ensured it would be a tight contest with an equalizer in the second half. Eventually, Luis Suarez and Neymar scored against the run of play to give the Catalan club their fifth European crown while the Old Lady succumbed to yet another European final defeat.
We take a look at all the records set and milestones reached in the 2014/15 season finale.
– Both Barcelona and Juventus have now reached 5 finals in the Champions League era (since 1992/93). They are tied with Bayern Munich. Only AC Milan have appeared in more finals (6).
– This is the first time two teams from the same country have won the Champions League in back-to-back seasons (Real Madrid in 2014 and Barcelona in 2015). The last time it happened, it was AC Milan who won in both 1989 and 1990.
Juventus
1) This is Juventus’ sixth loss in the Champions League final. No other club has lost so many finals. They had previously lost in 1973, 1983, 1997, 1998 and 2003. They have won the competition twice. Juventus have now lost their last four Champions League finals.
2) Alvaro Morata is the second player to score in both legs of the Champions League semi-final (against Real Madrid) and final (against Barcelona). The last player to do so was Arjen Robben in 2012/13 when he scored against Barcelona in the semi-final legs and Borussia Dortmund in the final. Neymar did one better though (read on).
Morata also became only the fourth player to score against Real Madrid and Barcelona in the same season in the Champions League.
3) The average age of the Juventus starting XI was 30 years and 153 days. It is the second oldest XI to play a Champions League final. The oldest squad was AC Milan’s XI in 2007 when they beat Liverpool.
Juventus’ starting XI in the final also saw them field the 8 oldest starting XI's in the competition this season.
5) This was Patrice Evra’s fifth Champions League final and he equaled Clarence Seedorf and Edwin Van der Sar. The only player to appear in more finals is Paolo Maldini (6). Evra has also won just one final in the Champions League and has lost with three different clubs – Monaco (2004), Manchester United (2009 & 2011) and Juventus (2015).
6) At 37 years and 129 days, Gianluigi Buffon was the seventh oldest player to play in a Champions League final behind Doino Zoff, Edwin Van der Sar, Paolo Maldini, Lothar Matthaus, Alfredo Di Stefano and Ryan Giggs.
7) Andrea Pirlo has now won two and lost two Champions League finals. He won twice with AC Milan (against Juventus in 2003 and Liverpool in 2007) and lost once with Milan (against Liverpool in 2005) and with Juventus (against Barcelona in 2015).
Barcelona records on Page 2