Barcelona takes on Juventus in the UEFA Champions League final at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin on Saturday 6th June with each side aiming to win a treble this season.
Juve and Barca have already won domestic doubles in Italy and Spain respectively, so the jury is on who wins the biggest trophy to make a treble.
Barca goes into the game with the favourites tag to claim their fourth Champions League title in the last decade while Juventus will be looking for their third European Title and first since 1996. Barcelona coach Luis Enrique is looking to emulate a feat that was achieved by former Barcelona manager pep Guardiola of winning the treble in his first season in charge at Camp Nou-2008-09 season.
“Winning the Champions League would signify a treble for us and it’s something that excites everyone. It’s happened just once in the club’s history, and this tells you how difficult it is to achieve,” Enrique said.
Chiellini out of final
Juve defender Giorgio Chiellini will miss out with a calf problem sustained in training.it was expected that Luis Suarez would come against Chielini whom he bit during last year’s world cup.
Andrea Barzagli who returned to training on Wednesday from a recent injury knock is expected to replace Chiellini.
Iniesta included in Barca squad
Andres Iniesta had been a doubt for the Spanish champions because of a calf injury but the midfielder was named in Barca’s squad after returning to training on Thursday.
Barcelona will look to a trio of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez who have scored 120 goals this season compared to 103 for the entire Juventus team.
Messi who has scored 58 goals this season – 43 in the Liga, ten in the UEFA Champions League and five in the Copa del Rey will look to guide his team to win the champions league trophy.
Juventus have got a big task of stopping Messi after witnessing him destroying Guardiola’s Bayern Munich with two goals in the first leg of their semi-final before setting up Neymar for the third at the Camp Nou.
Juventus will be keen to avoid Messi’s magic and also prevent him from becoming the first player to score in three Champions League finals.
“This is the game of our lives,” said Juve goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, “I would always want to be starting off as a favourite, but we have our weapons to try and make Barcelona’s job more difficult,” added Buffon, who along with Pirlo won the World Cup at the same stadium with Italy in 2006.
With four consecutive Serie A titles behind them, Allegri’s side carry a wealth of experience.
“They have that Italian competitive edge. It is always difficult to overcome that because they are very, very competitive,” said Barcelona’s Javier Mascherano.
“They are very tactical. They understand football and on top of that they have a lot of talent.”
Barcelona Possible lineup
Ter Stegen; Alves, Piqué, Mascherano, Alba; Rakitić, Busquets, Iniesta; Messi, Suárez, Neymar.
Juventus Possible lineup
Buffon; Lichtsteiner, Bonucci, Barzagli, Evra; Marchisio, Pirlo, Pogba; Vidal; Tévez, Morata.
Out: Chiellini (calf), Cáceres (ankle)
Four of their squad have already won the Champions League with other clubs — Andrea Pirlo with Milan in 2003 and 2007; Patrice Evra and Carlos Tevez with Manchester United in 2008 and Alvaro Morata with Real Madrid last year.
Pirlo remains a threat in midfield and his potential battle with Xavi Hernandez, on his final appearance for Barcelona, promises nothing but master class from the two veteran midfielders.
“We already have a historic double and we want more,” Xavi said.
We hope for the best in the final with the each side gunning for the trophy.
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