Barcelona comprehensively dispatched of Juventus in the UEFA Champions League final. Ryan Wrenn explores how the match was won and lost on a historic night in Berlin…
Barcelona won a tight game against Juventus to secure their fifth Champions League trophy. The 3-1 scoreline belies how close the game actually was throughout the opening 90 minutes. It was a game that defied expectations in the process of both sides showing glimpses of their best.
It feels appropriate to break down the game into its two halves as it seemed to drastically change after the interval. Let’s first take a look at the first half…
First half
Barcelona came extremely close to being caught out in the opening minute of the game when the defense gave the ball away nary twenty yards from ter Stegen’s goal. Tevez’ inability to convert the chance he was given so early haunted the team for the remainder of the game. Juventus’ best hope against Barcelona was to ruthlessly jump on every mistake the Catalan club made. The failed effort here smarted all the more when, not two minutes later, Rakitic scored on the other end.
That goal came from a fancy bit of build up that saw almost every Barca player contribute at least one pass. Neymar slid the ball back from the corner of the 18 yard box to an onrushing Iniesta who in turn selflessly passed it to Rakitic for him to concert over Buffon. It was a marvelous bit of classic Barcelona: the ball patiently played all the way up to the goal, slowly but efficiently cutting the opposition to pieces. It was easy to envision Barca going on to run up the tally against a hapless and perhaps unfortunate Juve.
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Instead, Juve locked down. They conceded a tremendous amount of possession – Barca controlled the ball for fully two thirds of the 45 minutes – but did so in favor of some organized and effective off-the-ball play. Messi was forced wide by the combined efforts of fullback Patrice Evra and centerback Leonardo Bonucci. There aren’t many places on the pitch where Messi wouldn’t end up leaving his mark; he was still able to provide the long diagonal pass to Neymar that opened Juventus up ahead of Rakitic’s goal. His inability to cut in to join the equally-well-marked Luis Suarez in the center blunted a lot of Barcelona’s typically sharp edge.
Juve’s defense wasn’t exactly uniform. Stephan Lichtsteiner had a terrible time staying with Neymar. The Brazilian frequently threatened in the first half, cutting inside and either directly or indirectly coming close to doubling Barca’s advantage. Lichtsteiner, like most Serie A fullbacks, aren’t used to dealing with wingers, particularly ones as otherworldly as Neymar, so his struggles weren’t exactly surprising. Thanks to some marvelous saves by Gianluigi Buffon and some last ditch efforts by Lichtsteiner fellow defenders, Juventus were able to end the half without conceding again.
Juve’s offense was confined to long shots throughout the half, mostly from either Carlos Tevez or Alvaro Morata. The box-to-box efforts of Paul Pogba, Claudio Marchisio and Arturo Vidal, so vital to the offense throughout Juve’s season, were stunted by their obligation to contain Barca’s midfield. That containment came in the form of tactical fouling as much as from tight pressing. Persistent soft fouling, as negative as it might seem, is a proven strategy against a Barcelona side that relies on long sequences of connected passes. Chelsea’s Champions League semifinal victory against Barca in 2012 featured a notable amount of fouling or other time wasting techniques. Anything to strip Barca of their vital rhythm.
Unfortunately, any team trying to nullify Barca in such a way often ends up nullifying itself. As mentioned above, the first half did feature some Juve attempts on goal, but they were often from the feat of one of the isolated strikers. The Bianconari clearly needed to get more men forward.
Second Half
The opening minutes of the second half seemed to be following the same pattern as the first. In the first minute of the half Messi slalomed down the edge of the area but was kept from cutting side or providing the final ball to his teammates closer to goal. It began to look as if Juve would resort to punting the ball blindly forward, hitching their fate to luck alone.
Thankfully, that’s not what ended up happening. Despite nearly disastrous set piece that saw Barcelona counter five against three, Juve began to boss the game. Their midfield pushed up and found space behind Barca’s often too-high midfield. After a woeful first half, it was Lichtsteiner that started the move to goal. The Swiss, as mentioned, isn’t kept around for his defense. He’s a wingback by trade, and he looked the part in the build up to the equalizer. Cutting narrow in midfield, he dispossessed Iniesta before passing it onto Marchisio ahead of him. In a moment of brilliance that Juve had otherwise lacked all game, the Italian backheeled the ball back into the path of a surging Lichtsteiner. The fullback cut the ball back to Tevez who swivelled around his defender for an attempt that was easily deflected by ter Stegen. Morata, unmarked, cleanly finished to tie the game.
FanSided
The goal was precisely how Juve was always going to score: a quick, accurate transition from defense to attack that caught out an overconfident Barca, and with an added bit of flair by Marchisio for good measure. It emboldened Juve, who continued to try to press high up the pitch and find space directly ahead of a suddenly vulnerable defense. To Barca’s credit, they adapted and mostly kept Juve confined to the same kind of long distance shots of the first half, though it wouldn’t have been surprising if the Italians were awarded a penalty for a foul on Pogba shortly before Barca’s second goal.
Most importantly, Barca kept Juve humble, pressing against Juve’s runs forward and trying as often as possible to catch them on the break. In run ahead of the second goal, Messi, now on the more vulnerable left, ran into the box and unleashed an effort that was parried by Buffon, though not far enough to prevent Suarez from converting. To say the goal was against the run of play is not entirely accurate. While Juve certainly were making their mark on the game, it was impressive mostly contrast to the relative lack of offensive quality of the of first half. Barca continued to dominate possession and create the best chances. Messi and Suarez’s combination for that goal was well earned. They were uncharacteristically underinvolved for much of the game, but inevitably found a way to impact proceedings.
The remainder of the game followed a similar course. Juve added more verve to their offense, allowing Barca more room to play their game, though not so much that they found a way to score prior to stoppage time. A Neymar effort was correctly ruled a handball minutes after Suarez’s go ahead goal. The Brazilians’ counterattacking goal in the sixth minute of stoppage time, though well taken, felt as much a result of exhaustion than any error on Juve’s part.
The verdict
Conceding so early, as Juventus did, basically rubbishes all tactical plans. It’s a fair guess that the Bianconeri had hoped to create as many opportunities as possible like the one they had in the opening minute and then manage Barcelona’s tide as only an Italian team can after scoring. Rakitic’s fourth minute strike denied them that opportunity. It would have been easy for Juventus to try to take the game back to Barcelona after that goal, and indeed it might have been what many were expecting to see.
FanSided
Instead Juventus forced Barcelona to play a game the Italian manager Massimiliano Allegri knew how to defend against. Barca had relied on the counterattack all year to get the best out of Messi, Suarez and Neymar, and Juve’s positioning and harrying midfield denied them the necessary outlet to play that game. Barca were forced to play in possession, a game of that relied on avenues and routes that they found heavily crowded by Juve players. How sustainable that would have been for the full 90 minutes is debatable, particular after already being a goal down, but it showed once against Allegri’s considerable defensive chops.
Unfortunately for Juve, they had to score to stay in the match. They mostly abandoned their game management in the second half and reverted to what was likely the plan before the first whistle. They pressed high, utilized their impressive midfield, and found that their chances increased. Doing so, of course, also meant that they opened themselves up to Barca’s lethal counter, but even then their defense proved to be up to the task. There was even a moment, just before Barca scored their second, where it seemed like Juve could actually go on and win. Pogba and Pirlo’s talents cannot be denied. They were unlucky to have not found that vital second to keep them in the game.
FanSided
Barcelona are the best in Europe for the fifth time due to their enthusiastic embrace of one of football’s newest trends: flexibility. Not just the ability to sub on a player that adds height to the side or a bit of pace. Rather, Barca have the ability to organically change their game seemingly in any given moment. Juventus defends, Barca can rely on their unmatched passing and pressing to find a way to goal. They open up in search of a goal and Barca exploits any space afforded to them behind the defense. It seems intuitive and, of course, it’s what every team aspires to do. Barca do it better than anyone in the world, and perhaps anyone in history.