A recap of the historic UEFA competition
Four minutes was all it took for Barcelona’s Ivan Rakitic to find the back of the onion bag and put Juventus on its heels in last Saturday’s Champions League final. Barcelona would claim its third Champions League title in six years, beating Juventus 3-1 in the end.
Both teams wanted the win in order to top off their domestic and cup competitions this year. The last visit to the league final for Juventus was the 2002-2003 season where they lost to Milan on penalty kicks.
It seemed the game was everyone against Juventus’ 37-year-old keeper Gianluigi Buffon, with 17 shots on net and Barcelona keeping possession of the ball 62 per cent of the time. Buffon has gained the reputation of being one of the best goalkeepers in the world and he led Italy to a World Cup victory in 2006. Barcelona, however, kept coming at him.
Buffon hung on long enough for Juventus player Morata to get the equalizer past keeper Ter Stegen at 55 minutes off a Carlos Tevas rebound. Buffon cheered and shook his fists when the striker scored. His excitement lasted for approximately 10 minutes, until Luis Suarez buried a Lionel Messi rebound and moved Barcelona ahead again.
Suarez’s celebratory jump over the barriers to celebrate the goal earned him a yellow card for his efforts. Suarez came into the game with controversy surrounding him; fans may remember his infamous bite on Juventus player Chiellini during last year’s World Cup. Chiellini didn’t suit up for the final due to injury, so there was no chance of Suarez’s teeth coming anywhere near him.
Barcelona’s Neymar thought he had scored in the last nine minutes of the game, but the goal was ruled out as the ball rolled up his arm before going in. Redemption came at the 90th minute for Neymar as, this time, the ball found the back of the net and Barcelona sealed the 3-1 victory.
Barcelona’s trio of Messi, Suarez, and Neymar are a devastating mix. They have scored 122 goals between them in this season. The Uruguayan Luis Suarez, 28, has only been in Barcelona for nine months and it seems a fitting place for him. The Argentinean Lionel Messi, 26, is Barcelona’s all-time top scorer. He is as loyal as the winter is long and will probably never leave for another club. Neymar, 23, the captain of the Brazilian national team Brazil, was voted the sixth best player in the world. Watching these guys play is sheer joy. Next year’s competition is already on notice. Three Champions League cups is a hard number to surpass.