Ivan Rakitic got Barcelona off to a perfect start with a fourth-minute goal, but Serie A champion Juventus hit back 10 minutes after half-time through Alvaro Morata.
Barca’s cutting edge striker Luis Suarez made it 2-1 on 68 minutes, before Neymar ensured UCL success with a third deep into stoppage-time.
Barca also became the second side to win a second treble. The win is also the club’s fourth in a decade.
It was clear that without Buffon, the Catalans would have embarrassed an ill-prepared Juve side who only had spirit but no tact to back up their hunger.
the night would have been over for the Italian champions after 15 minutes. That may sound ridiculous but such was the way Barcelona started – such was the fear in Juventus eyes early on – that only the goalkeeper stood between them and complete embarrassment.
It was a night where many looked for Messi who was below par – through no fault of his own. He was not the only one missing in action, though; Pirlo, Pogba, Xavi, Iniesta and a host of others were quite quiet.
Barca joined Liverpool and Bayern Munich as record winners of the trophy, but they earned it.Juve made sure of that.
Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon had praised Lionel Messi before the game as ‘an extra-terrestrial who plays with us humans’. He said he hoped that for one day he would return to earth and that was what Messi did.
For once, this game was not about him even though he had a hand in both Barcelona goals, scored by Ivan Rakitic and Luis Suarez. Messi played well but for once, it was a team performance that won this. It was team spirit as well as brilliance that got them through against the Italian champions.
It had seemed to begin with that Barcelona would cut loose when Rakitic put them ahead after four minutes and it took a heroic effort from Juventus just to stay in the game. They equalized early in the second half but Suarez got the winner Barcelona deserved.
So now the new era has begun.
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