Possible lineups
Juventus: Buffon; Lichtsteiner, Bonucci, Barzagli, Evra; Marchisio, Pirlo, Pogba; Vidal; Tévez, Morata.
Out: Chiellini (calf), Cáceres (ankle)
Doubtful: Barzagli (thigh)
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Alves, Piqué, Mascherano, Alba; Rakitić, Busquets, Iniesta; Messi, Suárez, Neymar.
Doubtful: none
The showpiece of the European club season, the Champions League final, takes place tonight as Football Club Barcelona take on Juventus FC at Berlin’s Olympiastadion. It’s an intensely awaited contest and here’s everything you need to know.
The 2015 UEFA Champions League final between Barcelona and Juventus is a clash of European footballing behemoths. All around the world thousands of words piling up for the first-ever Clásico Champions League final. Barcelona vs. Real Madrid! Lionel Messi vs. Cristiano Ronaldo! The acme of modern foot … wait, hang on, Juventus have equalized. Oh dear God! Stumbled thoughts all around the globe, does this fixture even have a name?
For both these juggernauts, it will be their eighth appearance in a European Cup final. And yet, despite being two of the biggest club teams going, the sides have relished divergent fortunes in recent performances.
Everyone knows what Barcelona is capable of with their talismanic star player Lionel Messi. They have conquered glory in the 10 years when they won the Champions League three times, beating Arsenal in 2006 and crushing Manchester United in both the 2009 and 2011 finals.
Confront Juventus, a team resolute to salvage their place at the pinnacle of European football. Despite being Italy’s most-successful team, Juventus have only won Europe’s premier club competition on two occasions: in 1985 and 1996.
Previously, Juventus have reached the UEFA Champions League final in 2003 and the club retains some of their players who are profoundly experienced for a match of such magnitude. Massimiliano Allegri, the manager of Juventus is heavily counting on the veterans who know a lot about a thing or two regarding big games.
Star players Carlos Tevez, Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal and Paul Pogba, the Turin hulks will be eager to pull off a shock victory in the same stadium that Pirlo, Andrea Barzagli and Gianluigi Buffon won the World Cup with Italy in 2006.
Regardless of the well balanced defense, players like Neymar, Luis Suárez and Messi – not to mention Andrés Iniesta – can always chastise you. Against Madrid, Juventus proved to be ahead and had enough personnel to respond after going behind, but everything would become a lot more complicated should Barcelona take the lead. That would force the Italian giants to leave more spaces for Luis Enrique’s lethal attacks.
Vidal and Pogba are good enough players who can wreck any opposing midfield and power their team to shocking victory over a superior opponent. However, with the best strike force the world has ever seen, Barcelona will be looking to crush Juventus just like they did earlier last month at the Nou Camp against the German giants Bayern Munich.
Having won their individual domestic league titles, both Juventus and Barcelona are at the verge of completing a treble with a victory in Berlin tonight. The game will be televised in the UK by ITV and Sky Sports.
