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MOTD: Barcelona 3-1 Juventus

By on June 6, 2015

There were hours upon hours of dissection ahead of the Champions League final in the media. No player, or injured player, boot or foot was left unturned. There was a preview for every few fans watching. It would be a tight game, they said; a nervy, tactical match. Barcelona’s front three would be the decider.

So much for the script. Four minutes in, Barcelona redefined the parameters of the match. Juventus pressed high up the pitch early on — seeking to keep Barcelona from dictating play. Indeed, in the first two minutes, Barcelona’s back-line made multiple mistakes — suggesting some vulnerability. “If we’d just managed to take the lead, the match could have ended very differently,” said Claudio Marchisio, stating the obvious afterward.

But then Barcelona scored. It seemed too easy; Juventus were caught out with one diagonal ball to Neymar, who sliced open Juve’s back-line like fresh cake with a through ball to the run of Andres Iniesta. With one pass, four ball-watching Juventus players were taken out of the play. Iniesta attracted Andrea Barzagli, whose absence in turn opened space for a quick pass to Ivan Rakitic. It was the simplest of finishes for a most complex goal. Before the match really even got going, Barcelona enjoyed the early advantage. Surprisingly, Barca’s front three neither set up or finished the goal.

The eyes of the world focused on the Olyimpiastadion in Berlin and they saw tricks, flicks, spills and thrills. They witnessed an ebb and flow but most importantly, they enjoyed a match that surpassed expectations. Whether it be Lionel Messi, Neymar, Luis Suarez or a physics defying pass, Luis Enrique’s men cut through Juventus at will. Only Gianluigi Buffon, who made a series of brilliant saves to keep it a contest, could do anything about it. Just briefly, for ten minutes out of ninety-six, did Andrea Pirlo, Paul Pogba and Carlos Tevez turn up the heat following Alvaro Morata’s shock equalizer. Otherwise, Barcelona walked coolly and unabashed to their second treble. By the end they had amassed a total of 62% possession.

The match was broadly reminiscent of Barca’s 2011 Champions League final appearance against Manchester United. It, too, finished 3-1 in the Catalan’s favor and Messi again waltzed across the pitch. A newspaper, cup of coffee and pipe would’ve fit Messi’s contour as he sliced past one player, around another and through the next.

Thirteen minutes in, Dani Alves’ first-time effort from Neymar’s cut-back produced the greatest of saves from Buffon, who contorted in midair to get a strong arm behind the shot. Two minutes later, Jordi Alba fired over from Rakitic’s low, short corner. It was one-way traffic and Juventus became increasingly frustrated — both Arturo Vidal and Pogba walked tight lines with the referees, each earning a yellow card.

The game’s intensity dipped with Juve’s hopes, as Juve’s pressing subsided after the opening goal. Granted, the contest was far from over and Juventus slowly and admirably worked their way back into the game, with Morata curling wide from fifteen yards before Marchisio fired over from twenty-five yards. Marc Andre ter Stegen got behind another of Marchisio’s long range blasts on the brink of the half.

But still, Juventus were too passive at the back. Suarez found space for a quick snapshot on the edge of the box in the thirty-ninth minute and came ever so close with a low far post effort. Not a minute later, he forced Buffon into a fantastic save with a twenty yard curler. On the other wise of the half, Barcelona broke five against three and Rakitic found Suarez on the overlap down the left. The Uruguayan’s toe-poke forward Buffon into a quick stop at his near post.

Buffon’s performance warranted a title, but the Italian World Cup-winner will feel more hard done by luck than his own teammates, who staged an impressive second half resurgence. Messi came close following two consecutive one-twos in the fifteenth minute but Juventus kept themselves in the game. Their reward came from a deft back heel from Claudio Marchisio to Stephan Leichtsteiner, who cut the ball across the box to Tevez. The latter’s shot forced Ter Stegen into a block, but the ball rebounded right onto the foot of Alvaro Morata to fire home.

Suddenly, Juventus came to life. Tevez curled over from the edge of the box, before Pogba saw his low, long-range effort blocked by Ter Stegen. For the first time, Pogba and Pirlo formed a genuinely threatening partnership. Yet it was short lived; almost as quickly as Juventus’ surged forward, Barca snuffed out the fire within Massimo Allegri’s men. Messi was of course the catalyst, going on a long run through the midfield, jinxing past Marchisio and firing a low effort on goal. Buffon parried down low to his left, but Suarez was there to follow-up.

Barca thought they’d won it shortly thereafter, only for Neymar’s headed goal from short-range to be correctly called back for having glanced off his hand. Gerard Pique spun and volleyed over late on, and while there were five minutes of stoppage time, Barcelona had firm control of the game. In the ninety-sixth minute, Barca caught Juventus out at the back and Neymar tucked a low finish past Buffon to wrap up the match. Amid the euphoria, the Barcelona squad leapt the barriers to reach the fans and the coaches came rushing onto the field. The title and treble were Barcelona’s.

Homepage photo credit: copa2014.gov.br

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.