Champions League 2015 Final: Early Preview for Juventus vs. Barcelona
Juventus clinched a 1-1 tie against Real Madrid on Wednesday evening to seal a 3-2 aggregate win over the Spanish giants and book their place opposite Barcelona in this season's Champions League final.
Barca were the first team to seal their spot at Berlin's Olympiastadion following a 5-3 aggregate triumph over Bayern Munich, and Juve now head to the German capital all too aware of the daunting foe awaiting them.
The matchup will be the latest in a series that has favored the Italian club, via Infostrada:
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The European masses are still reacting to the confirmation of this season's finalists, but read on for an early preview of the titanic clash on June 6, including a glance at how we got to this stage and what lies ahead.
Date: Saturday, June 6
Time: 7:45 p.m. BST/2:45 p.m. ET
Venue: Olympiastadion, Berlin
Road to Berlin, What's to Come
Luis Enrique's maiden campaign at the helm of Barcelona wasn't always the smooth ride it seems now, and a 3-2 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in their second Group F fixture didn't help that settling period.
However, that would be the only group fixture in which Barca dropped points, as Luis Suarez came to have his impact on Barca after making his team debut on October 25, 2014.
| Juventus | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 16 | 7 | +9 |
| Barcelona | 12 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 28 | 10 | +18 |
After serving his ban from the 2014 World Cup, the Uruguayan gradually settled into Enrique's lineup and scored in each of Barca's final two group matches, including the 3-1 win over PSG in December.
Suarez's success as a Barcelona player has only risen the more time he's spent alongside Lionel Messi and Neymar, with former Blaugrana forward Thierry Henry telling Inside Spanish Football that Suarez is the club's missing piece:
"For me, he is a No 9 I like to see. He goes into the channel, he will hold the ball at times. For the first goal he went into the channel, held it, pure strength. The second one, he drops, plays a one-two and goes behind. He's always available. He's always looking to go behind and they now have a proper No 9. ...
... In my Barca team we had that with me and Samuel Eto'o. They knew we would always ask for the ball in behind, and therefore Leo could encounter space in that false nine role. They've gone back into that. Why? Because they have one guy we've been talking about all night, and that's Suarez.
Him being in that position will allow everybody to play better. They went to Leo on the right and Neymar on the left, but they have that No 9 they didn't have for a long time.
"
That divine trinity of Suarez, Messi and Neymar—perhaps one of the greatest attacking combinations in the sport's history despite still being in its infancy—will continue to play an instrumental role for Enrique.
In particular, it's Suarez who has shown a side of his play not witnessed as regularly with Liverpool or Ajax, making a spectacular 23 assists this season. He has lost none of his goal potency, though, as shown by Eurosport:
The knockout stages have seen Barcelona find another gear, and as Enrique's grip on this squad has progressed, so too has their hunt in front of goal.
Putting three goals past Manchester City in the round of 16 was an achievement, but notching five against each of PSG and Bayern Munich in the quarter- and semi-finals respectively raises the question as to whether anyone can stop them.
Speaking on Sky Sports News HQ, Bleacher Report columnist Guillem Balague praised Enrique as the main reason behind Barcelona excelling of late:
"The boat has stopped rocking if you like and everybody is in his place. Luis Enrique had a lot of ideas of what he wanted to do with his side and not all of them worked. One of them was to look for alternatives to Messi, well no. Don't look for alternatives to Messi, give the ball to Messi. So that is one thing that happened in January.
Since then everybody else have been affected by not great managing of their sides while Barcelona, with the rotations imposed by Luis Enrique, have arrived to end of the season in perfect shape, perfect form. Pep Guardiola was saying, "I've seen all the players, they are so thin, so sharp, so fast" and this is definitely what is helping Barcelona.
"
European glory is something that's eluded Juventus for some years now, and the 2014-15 campaign produced the Bianconeri's first Champions League semi-final appearances in 12 years.
Confidence in their plight wasn't encouraged after Massimiliano Allegri's side finished second to Atletico Madrid in Group A, where they managed to score just seven goals across their six outings.
The Old Lady may not have looked their most dazzling against Atleti, Olympiakos and Malmo, but in breaking up another all-Spanish final, Juve have shown that substance can sometimes be more effective than glitz.
Former Real Madrid man Alvaro Morata equalised to clinch a decisive 1-1 draw for Real on Wednesday. The question now turns to whether he can dump out former El Clasico rivals Barca.
Allegri praised his squad after Wednesday's match, per ESPN's Dermot Corrigan:
An edgy 1-0 aggregate win over Monaco in the quarter-finals was a prime example of Allegri's side playing at their stiffest, something that may have worked to effect against the French giants—but it won't do for Barca.
But then there was the 5-1 aggregate victory over Borussia Dortmund prior to that, showing this Juve team can be an attacking marvel, with David Amoyal of GianlucaDiMarzio.com attesting as much:
The Italian stereotype would suggest Juventus attempt to restrain Barcelona and hope they can carve out their own chances; after all, it worked against Real Madrid.
However, La Liga's current leaders and title favourites are in the kind of form able to unlock any defence, where merely sitting back and awaiting the onslaught may be as good as pleading for defeat.
