Tournament Awards for the 2014/15 Champions League

The 2014/15 Champions League is in the books, with Barcelona clinching their fourth title in 10 seasons with an impressive win over Juventus in Berlin on Saturday night.

The Catalans were undoubtedly the best team in the competition, beating arguably their most likely rivals—Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich and Juventus—along the way to their ultimate glory.

Elsewhere, however, there were many surprises, with few pundits expecting Juventus to reach the final and even fewer anticipating that Premier League teams would so horribly fail to mount any sort of challenge.

Read on for some end-of-competition awards.

Player of the Tournament: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

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Once again, Lionel Messi is football's unrivalled star. The Argentinian, perhaps harbouring a slight injury for much of the second half of last season and the World Cup, got better and better as this season went on. By the time 2015 was into its second month, he looked virtually unstoppable.

So it was, the striker proving integral to Barcelona's victories over Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich and Juventus on the way to the trophy. Luis Enrique's side probably had to face the three other great sides in the competition, and they eased past all of them with only brief moments of doubt.

Much of that is down to Messi, who was always the clear difference between Barcelona and whichever other side was on the pitch. When he is in this kind of form, he is virtually unstoppable. If he stays fit and is as hungry for success next season, Barcelona will surely be a reasonable tip to become the first side to successfully defend a Champions League crown.

Honourable mentions: Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Neymar (Barcelona).

Young Player of the Tournament: Paul Pogba (Juventus)

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Perhaps not always tested as he could be at domestic level, this season's Champions League presented Paul Pogba the stage to prove he can rise to any challenge put in front of him.

If the Frenchman leaves Juventus for a new challenge this summer, it may well have been his performances on the continent this term that convinced the buying club to pay the exorbitant sum it will surely take to sign him.

The size and muscle in an otherwise slightly diminutive Juventus midfield, Pogba proved to be so much more this season—capable of dribbling past players, running beyond them and passing both short and long. At 22, he has a lot still to learn, but he knows a breathtaking amount already and is rightfully classed as one of the best midfielders in the world.

He was impressive against Barcelona in the final, just as he was in the semi-final second leg against Real Madrid when he was not even fully fit. Either of those clubs would love to have him.

Honourable mentions: Neymar (Barcelona), Alex Sandro (Porto), Geoffrey Kondogbia (Monaco).

Veteran Player of the Tournament: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus)

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A mixed performance in the final—he made some outstanding saves to keep his side in the game but perhaps could have done better in the buildup to Luis Suarez's decisive strike—should not detract from a fantastic campaign for goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.

The 37-year-old remains the most expensive player in his position, yet there can be little doubt that Juventus have got full value for money for a player they signed for £33 million back in 2001. The Italian club's defensive unit is brilliant, and Buffon is a key part of that—marshalling his back line and making some key stops when required.

Having publicly expressed a desire to play on until the 2018 World Cup, that would give Buffon at least three more seasons to try to finally win Europe's main prize. In order to do so, however, Juventus will have to keep hold of their brightest young stars. Hopefully, for the goalkeeper's sake, they can.

Honourable mentions: Andrea Pirlo (Juventus), Tiago (Atletico Madrid), John Terry (Chelsea).

Overachievers: AS Monaco

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By and large, there were few significant surprises in this tournament—it has been a while since Juventus reached the final, but they proved the quality of their side as the competition went on.

One of the few sides who it could be said did far better than anticipated were Monaco, who went further in the competition then they have done for a long time despite selling many of their best players off in the preceding summer.

Leonardo Jardim, in his first season in charge of the club, guided the Ligue 1 side to top spot in a group that featured three other decent teams—Bayer Leverkusen, Benfica and Zenit Saint Petersburg—before surprising Arsenal in the round of 16.

They eventually ran out of steam against Juventus—a team very similar to them in many ways, except marginally better in all of them—but this was nevertheless a good campaign for them.

Underachievers: Chelsea

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Comfortable champions in the Premier League who won the League Cup along the way, Chelsea's failure in the Champions League will be the one sore spot for Jose Mourinho as he starts planning for next season.

Well into his second term at Chelsea now, it is surely beginning to rankle the Portuguese that he has failed to even reach the final of the competition he has won with Porto and Inter Milan with the two teams where he should have had the best chance—Real Madrid the other. Fail to do so again with the Blues next season, and perhaps Mourinho will start to face some real questions about why he has failed where Avram Grant, who reached the final, and Roberto Di Matteo, who won it, managed to succeed.

Of course, the vagaries of fate and fortune play their role, but Chelsea had few excuses for their last-16 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain. Mourinho even suggested before the tie that the draw had been a favourable one, something that looked to be the case when Chelsea had the lead in the second leg at Stamford Bridge and PSG had already had a man sent off.

Yet Laurent Blanc's side scored late on to force extra time and scored again to win the tie on away goals. The loss will surely still sting Mourinho, who will be determined not to let the same thing happen again next season.

Biggest Surprise: The Premier League's Awful Showing

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Did anyone really expect all English teams to be out of the competition before the quarter-finals? Surely not, yet that is exactly what happened, as the Premier League endured a season to forget on the continent.

Liverpool started off the pattern, failing to get out of a group that looked reasonably kind—Basel went through instead. Manchester City had a few problems in a much harder group but were then drawn against Barcelona, a tie they can be forgiven for losing.

Arsenal and Chelsea, however, will look back on this campaign with serious regret. The Gunners crumbled to defeat at home to AS Monaco and could not recover in the second leg of their last-16 tie, while Chelsea somehow contrived to lose to 10-man Paris Saint-Germain at Stamford Bridge.

The Blues went on to win the Premier League easily, so it wasn't all bad for them, but the Premier League will certainly want a better showing next season if there are to be any continued claims that it is the best league in the world.

Goal of the Tournament: Lionel Messi (Barcelona) vs. Bayern Munich

Can there be any debate about this? For the size of the game, the quality of the opposition and the skill involved, this was about as good as it got all season.

Honourable Mentions: Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal) vs. Galatasaray, Luis Suarez (Barcelona) vs. PSG.

Coach of the Tournament: Massimiliano Allegri

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The disappointment of defeat in the final will take a while to heal, but in time, Massimiliano Allegri's achievements with Juventus this season will come to be recognised.

It cannot be doubted that La Vecchia Signora have underperformed in Europe over recent seasons. A club with such talent should not have been unable to get out of the group stage of this competition. There seemed to be some sort of mental block in place, for whatever reason. This season, however, Allegri was able to remove that and show his team what they could achieve.

They edged through a competitive group containing Atletico Madrid and Olympiakos, then beat Borussia Dortmund, AS Monaco and Real Madrid in the knockout stages to reach the final—seemingly playing in different styles as the games demanded along the way.

Ultimately, the attacking quality of Barcelona was too much for them, but it is not a stretch to suggest Juventus had more tactical flexibility and structural awareness than any other team in the competition. Credit for that must go to their coach.

Honourable Mentions: Laurent Blanc (PSG), Julen Lopetegui (Porto), Leonardo Jardim (Monaco).

Game of the Tournament: Barcelona 3-0 Bayern Munich

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The best goal of this season's tournament came from its best player in its best game. The scoreline may have ended up looking rather one-sided, but for 70 minutes, this was an absorbing, unpredictable encounter between two of the finest sides European football has witnessed for a while.

Bayern boss Pep Guardiola shook things up with his starting formation on his return to Camp Nou, but that only left them looking more open at the back, and Barcelona attacked with real venom from the off. The visitors slowly clawed their way back into the contest and occasionally looked like stealing the lead—all the while fans watching were left amazed by the consistently high quality of the first touches and passing on display.

Then, in the last 20 minutes, Lionel Messi took over. His first goal was good, if partly the result of a defensive mistake, and the sublime nature of his second has already been covered. It was the very late third goal that killed the tie—and denied neutrals a second leg quite as dramatic, although it was still good—but prior to that, we were all treated to a remarkable game.

Honourable mentions: Real Madrid vs. Schalke, Chelsea vs. PSG, Juventus vs. Barcelona.