Barcelona defeated Juventus 3-1 in the Champions League Final thanks to some heroics in the second half from Luis Suárez.
Barcelona and Juventus met in Berlin, Germany in the Champions League Final on Saturday. The prize for both teams was not only the trophy and crown as “Champions of Europe,” but a shot at finishing off a treble season.
For those who are unaware, a treble is winning three trophies in a season and Barcelona would be the first to accomplish the feat.
Barcelona came into the game with a all-star attacking trio led by Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Luis Suarez, but it was Juventus that were pressing and attacking early on in the game.
It didn’t last long though, Barcelona managed to get the first goal of the game just minutes into it thanks to some beautiful ball movement. The ball came to Neymar on the lower left wing, and he got it into the box and to Andres Iniesta, who played it off to Ivan Rakitic.
With a wide open net, Rakitic found the back of the net.
Barcelona players let their confidence show in their play. Dani Alves was battling with Juventus’ Arturo Vidal one-on-one, and pulled off a nifty little nutmeg. Vidal wasn’t too thrilled and gave Alves a little congratulatory slap.
There was a controversial no-call on what appeared to be a penalty from Jordi Alba on Paul Pogba, which would’ve given Juventus a penalty kick to tie things up.
But Alba clearly got the ball first, and it happened outside of the box and would’ve been a free kick and not a penalty kick.
Juventus caught a lucky break in the second half, when a Juventus shot was saved by Marc-André ter Stegen. Unfortunately for the Catalan side, that save landed at the feet of Álvaro Morata, who basically single-handedly eliminated Real Madrid in the Champions League semifinals.
He didn’t miss from point blank range and acreage of open net to target.
Juventus has the steam and the momentum early after this goal, but Barcelona would get their own version of a fortunate bounce of a save from Gigi Buffon. The ball landed at the feat of a charging Luis Suárez. Had Suárez not gotten there, Rakitic was right behind him and would’ve likely scored as well.
It looked like Neymar had scored an insurance goal shortly after Suárez gave Barcelona the lead. Unfortunately for Barcelona it was called off, the ball going off Neymar’s arm as he barely missed with the header.
The remainder of the game was ran through Barcelona’s attack. Juventus got their opportunities but never really threatened to equalize in the remainder of the game. In the final moments of stoppage time, the Barcelona attack broke loose. Neymar got the ball on his feet in the box and put it in the back of the net to seal the win and secure the trophy.
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