Barca brilliance in Berlin

Barca brilliance in Berlin
By Euronews
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Barcelona lifted their fifth Champions League trophy and third from the past six seasons with a 3-1 win over the ‘Old Lady’ of Juventus. Having also

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Barcelona lifted their fifth Champions League trophy and third from the past six seasons with a 3-1 win over the ‘Old Lady’ of Juventus.

Having also won the Copa del Rey and La Liga, Luis Enrique and his men handed the Catalan club its second treble-winning season after that of the 2008/2009 campaign.

It also offered 35-year-old Barcelona legend Xavi the perfect parting gift as he said farewell after a glittering career before a move to Al Sadd in Qatar.

Juventus, on the other hand, became the first team to lose six European Cup finals.

Barcelona opened up the scoring in typical stylish fashion when Ivan Rakitic finished of a delightful collective passing move inside five minutes.

Coach Enrique said the goal was the beginning of a dominant first half for his men.

He said: “Well I think if I analyse it right from the start, it began perfectly for us. We scored the first goal at the first opportunity and I think we dominated the first half with more opportunities to score goals but I think (GiGi) Buffon was at his absolutely best as usual.”

Juventus were on level terms just before the hour mark when Alvaro Morata slid home after Barca keeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen turned Carlos Tevez’s shot into his path.

The Juve celebrations didn’t last long though

Juve coach Massimiliano Alegri said: “I had good feelings, I thought we could win it, but Barcelona got away the minute we made the mistake, when we conceded a counter-attack. They have three excellent attackers who are great at counter-attacks, and so we paid the price when we made the mistake.”

On 68 minutes Luiz Suarez struck following a counter to put Barca 2-1 in front.

Another Barcelona counter attack saw the Catalans deliver the coup de grace when Neymar emphatically fired past Buffon with the final kick of the game for 3-1.

Up and Down

This week “up & down” is dedicated entirely to the match at the Olympic Stadium.

Luis Suarez is definitely on the up after scoring the second of Barca’s goals on the night which put his side well on the way to victory.

With Suarez, Messi and Neymar the Catalan’s attacking trident proved too hot to handle for Juve.

Alvaro Morata joins Suarez on the up. After scoring two goals in the two legged semi-final, he scored the only goal for Juve in Berlin.

For many he was the Italian Champions’ player of the match.

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Making our champions league down list this week is Paul Pogba.

The highly sought after midfielder failed to fire in Berlin but with this said he has become a transfer target for Barcelona who after the match confirmed their interest in the player.

Walk the walk…

Thousands of fans gathered in Berlin last weekend to support their team in European club football’s showpiece match. But one passionate supporter went that extra mile to get his hands on a ticket.

Juventus fan Nicolo De Marchi walked 683 miles or 1100 kilometres from Turin to Berlin to get his hands on a ticket to see his side take on Barca.

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It all began when he made a pledge when tweeting the club on their ‘if we get to the final’ hashtag prior to their semi-final victory over Real Madrid.

Juventus found out about his quest for the golden ticket and said they would provide one for him if he completed the journey.

The 22-year passed through Italy, Austria, Switzerland and then Germany on his route.

He was allowed to use a bike for parts of the journey and a car for 12 kilometres because of hazardous conditions.

In total it took De Marchi nine days to complete his journey.

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Bloopers

We close this special episode as always with our bloopers segment which this week comes from an Israeli TV ad. The corner has reached full time for the season. See you again in August with the return of the European domestic leagues. (See bloopers clip above).

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