Picking a Combined Barcelona-Juventus XI on Form This Year
Luis Enrique and Massimiliano Allegri have probably worked out their starting lineups for the Champions League final by now, but we've got a harder job as we try to put the cream of the crop from both sides together.
Basing this on form shown this season means that players like Xavi Hernandez miss out, even if he'd be the first name on the teamsheet if it were based on their performances over the last decade.
Well, second, because Lionel Messi is already written in stone at the top. Beyond that, it's extremely tough to whittle down two brilliant squads to just 11 players.
Because of that, we've also named a substitutes bench, but feel free to complain about your favourite player missing out in the comments section below.
Goalkeeper: Gianluigi Buffon
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Gianluigi Buffon is a football legend, but that's not why he's in this team.
The 37-year-old has enjoyed an excellent season and has captained Juventus to claim the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles.
Buffon has 24 clean sheets in the Italian top flight and the Champions League this season, in 46 games.
This was a choice between him and Marc-Andre ter Stegen, because Claudio Bravo won't be playing in the final on Saturday, thanks to the way Luis Enrique rotates his goalkeepers.
Ter Stegen has only featured in the Champions League and Copa del Rey, lifting the trophy with the latter and setting his sights on the former.
He has plenty of talent between the sticks but still has a way to go to match the old master Buffon.
Right-Back: Dani Alves
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Before the turn of the year, you would not have picked Dani Alves in this team.
In fact, you'd be dubious about picking him in any team, with the Brazilian looking wayward and far below his best.
However, like Barcelona, he has been improving as the season progressed.
Alves has turned up in every big game Barcelona have played in 2015, rolling back the years and attacking with verve.
Will that remain if they give him the new contract he craves? Possibly not.
But for now, he makes it into our team, ahead of Juventus' Swiss defender Stephan Lichtsteiner.
The Juventus defender has not had a bad year, creating five goals and three assists from a right-back or sometimes right-wing-back position. However, overall Alves shades him out.
Centre-Back: Gerard Pique
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Gerard Pique has been colossal this season. After a bad year and then a poor World Cup with Spain, many doubted him.
Even the start of the season did not go in his favour—he was frequently rotated and not in Luis Enrique's good books.
But he settled down and became the rock we always knew he could be.
Pique's performance have left little to be desired, and the defender has also responded well at the attacking end, notching more goals this season (seven) than in any other so far.
Centre-Back: Leonardo Bonucci
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This was a tough decision, between Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini and Javier Mascherano.
Barcelona's battler isn't a natural central defender, but you'd never have guessed by his performances this season.
Chiellini, too, has been impressive, but sadly he is injured for the final.
Bonucci just about shades it, forming a key part of Juventus' tight defence.
He has been a regular presence, while others have been rotated, whether for tactical reasons or injury.
Bonucci has kept his head held high through the mayhem, becoming one of the finest centre-backs in Europe and guiding his side toward the treble.
Left-Back: Jordi Alba
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It's a shame that Patrice Evra has to miss out here, having been an important and impressive presence for Juventus this season.
While he was starting to look exposed at Manchester United, in Turin he has been born again. Now Evra gets to play in his fifth Champions League final, and he deserves to be there.
However, he will be going up against Barcelona's Lionel Messi, which is the toughest job in football.
Meanwhile, Jordi Alba has enjoyed a phenomenal season for Barcelona.
Making few mistakes and being an incredible outlet for his side on the left, Alba is one of the most coveted full-backs in world football.
Or would be, if he hadn't put pen to paper on a brand new deal at Barcelona, which keeps him at the club until 2020.
Defensive Midfield: Sergio Busquets
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Sergio Busquets had a slow start to the season, seemingly suffering from physical problems that kept him from reaching his best level.
However, like Alves, in the past few months he has been wonderful, cutting out attacks and starting them for Barcelona.
Busquets is the finest defensive midfielder in the game today, with only Nemanja Matic close to him.
Andrea Pirlo is a maestro from a deep-lying position, a wizard with the ball, but Busquets is simply the best.
Central Midfield: Paul Pogba
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Most players don't get the chance to audition directly for their next club, but Paul Pogba has that chance.
Injury stopped him from being his influential self in the second leg of the semi-final against Real Madrid, but Pogba will be out to show Barcelona why they should splash the cash to land him at the next available opportunity.
A physically imposing yet clever midfielder, Pogba as offered eight goals and three assists this season.
The Frenchman is the most wanted player in Europe, and plenty of people will be watching this game to see why.
Central Midfield: Arturo Vidal
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Andres Iniesta, Ivan Rakitic, Claudio Marchisio all have strong cases to be in this side, but Chilean powerhouse Arturo Vidal just edges it.
Let's let Gianluigi Buffon explain why. Juve's goalkeeper said, per UEFA (h/t Sport): "Arturo Vidal is our warrior. Arturo, as we often say, is a really good guy and a splendid player. If I had to go war, I'd always take him with me."
Vidal is a ball of energy and is adept at both defending and attacking.
Although in the first half of the season he was a little below his best, perhaps suffering a World Cup hangover, he has pulled his socks up and is back at the top of his game.
Right Forward: Lionel Messi
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Lionel Messi is better than he's been in years. Perhaps better than he's ever been full stop.
Playing from the right wing, he's taken back the best-in-the-world tag from Cristiano Ronaldo, playing at a level that no other player on earth can reach.
It was Messi's goal that won Barcelona La Liga, fired through a crowd of bodies past Atletico Madrid's Jan Oblak at the Vicente Calderon.
And it was Messi who broke the deadlock with a quite unbelievable goal in the Copa del Rey final, crushing Athletic Bilbao's spirits, before adding another later on.
Juventus' defenders, as tough as they are, will be quaking in their boots.
Centre-Forward: Luis Suarez
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You can probably guess where this is going.
With apologies to Carlos Tevez and Alvaro Morata, both of whom have been excellent, Luis Suarez takes the central spot.
The Uruguayan created more goals than he scored after he became eligible to play for Barcelona, but that soon changed.
He found his shooting boots and hasn't looked back since. However, his primary function is to glue together the attack.
Suarez's dangerous movements and unselfishness have given Barcelona's fearsome trident the edge on any other attacking partnership in the world.
Between them, Lionel Messi, Neymar and Suarez have 120 goals this season, and they are likely to add to that on Saturday night.
Left Forward: Neymar
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The Brazilian star has had something to prove this season, after he was denied the chance to go all the way in the World Cup by injury.
Neymar's first year with Barcelona was hit-and-miss, but the second has left nobody in doubt that he is a world star.
Take Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo out of the equation and Neymar is the next-highest scorer in La Liga, notching 22 goals, along with Antoine Griezmann.
Neymar's abilities are quite unique, combining exceptional skill with speed and even some power, after he bulked up a bit.
The striker will be a Ballon d'Or winner in the future, even if for now he still can't be compared to his team-mate, Messi. But then again, who can?
The Bench
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GK: Ter Stegen
DF: Javier Mascherano
DF: Patrice Evra
MF: Ivan Rakitic
MF: Andres Iniesta
ST: Carlos Tevez
ST: Alvaro Morata
