Ronald Koeman labels Barcelona's win over Juventus as their best game of the season
Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman described his side's 2-0 Champions League triumph away at Juventus as their " best game of the season".
The Catalan giants bounced back from their embarrassing 3-1 El Clasico defeat at the hands of Real Madrid over the weekend with the Champions League group-stage win. The victory marked back-to-back wins in Europe, much to the delight of their new head coach.
A deflected shot from Ousmane Dembele and a stoppage-time penalty from Lionel Messi helped the Blaugrana to consecutive Group G wins.
Juventus missed their talismanic forward Cristiano Ronaldo on Wednesday as the Portuguese forward was ruled out for the much-awaited clash after testing positive for the coronavirus. The Bianconeri failed to register a shot on target against Barcelona in his absence.
Ronald Koeman and Sergi Roberto delighted with Barcelona's performance against Juventus
Ronald Koeman was impressed with how his side performed but felt that they should have wrapped up the game sooner. He told reporters:
"This was our best game all season. This is a big win against an important European side and we were able to play the football we're trying to impose."
"I wanted us to play with three at the back, pushing one man forward to have extra in the middle of the pitch. That meant we created a lot of goal chances and, frankly, I think we should have finished the match off much earlier."
"I'm very content with the football we played, with the result and especially with the character my team showed."
Barcelona dominated Juventus throughout the game, making 227 more passes than the Serie A champions and enjoying 59 percent of possession. Sergi Roberto, who completed 94.5 percent of his attempted passes, said the performance has established a standard they should be striving to meet consistently.
"We want to be a Barcelona side which dominates game, which owns the ball, which defends well and we're getting there. We have a new coach and this will improve continually."
"To have six points from two games is important. It's only a two-goal win but it could have been much more. Some chances didn't want to go in but we're generally content. The vital thing is to be continuously creating these chances."
Barcelona have had a poor start to their 2020-21 La Liga campaign and are currently sitting in 12th place, seven points behind leaders Real Sociedad but with two games in hand.
The Catalan giants recently announced that club president Josep Bartomeu has left the club. This news is believed to be a source of contentment for some of the players.
Barcelona fans will be hoping that their result against Juventus and the news of Bartomeu's departure will give the players the motivation they need to turn their season around.