UEFA Champions League Final Review: 5 Takeaways as Barcelona win treble

Barcelona showed their strength and poise in an incredible 3-1 victory over Italian champions Juventus, and Scott Stewart examines how it was done:

Barcelona romped to a treble in Luis Enrique’s debut campaign after defeating Juventus 3-1 in the Champions League final on Saturday evening.

Ivan Rakitic opened the scoring within four minutes of kick-off when an Andres Iniesta pass found the Croat in space in the middle of the box to fire home before Spanish prodigy Alvaro Morata equalised off the rebound early in the second half.

However, Barcelona awoke from their slumber and added two more goals, the first from Luis Suarez and the another at the death thanks to Neymar as the Catalans were crowned Champions of Europe for the fifth time.

With that, PF90 picks apart five things we learnt from a historic night of football.

Strength in numbers

Both sides lined up with almost everyone that we thought would be involved, barring Juve’s back line that was missing Italian champion Georgio Chiellini. The Catalans opted to start Rakitic over their maestro, Xavi, in midfield and that proved to be an excellent decision just a few minutes into the match.

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Carlos Tevez and Alvaro Morata started up front in attempts to match the Messi-Neymar-Suarez trio that was set on terrorizing the Old Lady. In midfield, Juventus optioned for a diamond of Vidal, Pogba, Pirlo, and Marchisio, compared to Barcelona’s tradition 4-3-3 three of Iniesta, Rakitic, and Busquets. In defense, Juventus settled for Lichtsteiner, Bonucci, Barzagli, and Evra in the absence of Chiellini in the middle.

The early finish provided an easy tempo

As soon as you could blink, Barcelona were up one up on the Italian champions thanks to Ivan Rakitic’s quick strike from Andres Iniesta. This allowed the Blaugrana to dictate almost every aspect of the match, sitting back in possession and attempting to expose holes in the defense. It was a very traditional Barcelona performance.

Juventus grew frustrated, Arturo Vidal in particular, but the first 45 minutes were completely dictated by the Spanish champion. Boring, boring Barcelona? Maybe, but boring became effective through the first half.

Nerves cost Juventus early

It was Barcelona who started a bit shaky, but after a quick goal, became the more composed of the two sides and enjoyed their time on the ball. Juventus, however, did not respond with as much poise as their opponents. No question an earlier goal would have changed the tone of the game but credit goes to Barcelona for remaining static with their game plan.

Juventus defiant as ever

Despite the early nerves, the Bianconeri were effective in punching through the Barcelona midfield and found chances from crosses on the wing. A few minutes into the second half, Juventus had pressed on enough to find a quality chance for Carlos Tevez – but Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who did well in his final debut, saved his shot. However, the German could only parry it into space and the ex-Real Madrid man, Alvaro Morata, did his duty and buried it to equalize.

Even when Suarez scored again to restore Barcelona’s lead, Juventus pressed on with their game plan. There were some questionable decisions no doubt, but in the end the Italians will rue their missed opportunities.

They are who we thought they were

Brilliant in the counter, Barcelona showed all their quality in both halves – frustrating their opponents in the first half and surprising them in the second with speedy attacks that often produced 5-on-3 counter attacks. In the end, the Catalans had to put one more on the board in the form of Neymar’s 96^th minute strike to make it 3-1, putting all hope of a comeback officially to bed.

Both teams have reason to be proud, and both put on a pretty quality display. One was destined to win the treble and one was always going to lose – on this day it was Barcelona who deserved their 5^th UCL title.