Finally the path to Berlin looks clear and we are only on some hours before the awaited Champions League 2015 final, where “Olympiastadion” in the German capital is set to host the most prestigious game in the European club football – UEFA’s Champions League final between the teams of Juventus and Barcelona. This promises one huge spectacle not only because of the importance of the game, as well because of the financial benefits, but also because of the fact that both clubs are complete dominants in their domestic leagues and Cups, as they both did the double.
Juventus will fly to Berlin after the success in the Italian Serie A and the conquered “Stadio Olimpico” in Rome, where “The Old Lady” lifted the Coppa Italia trophy after a 2:1 win against Lazio on extra time, which marks the domestic double for the “Bianconeri”, which was their first double since more than 20 years. Incredible season for Massimiliano Allegri’s men, who are now heading for the Champions League trophy but this time they will have to deal with the second pair that forms the famous “El Clasico” matchup – Barcelona. The Catalans will travel for Germany after one great first season for the new attacking trio of Barcelona – Neymar, Luis Suarez and Leo Messi are all dreaming for the fantastic “treble”, who seems pretty near and after the Spanish La Liga triumph, as well the Copa del Rey win against Athletic Bilbao, now “Blaugrana” is directed to the Champions League trophy.
Juventus in the Champions League – season 2014/2015
Juventus returns in the Champions League and this obviously happened with a “slam-bang”, which Juventus fully deserves after the famous “Calciopoli” scandal, who ruled out Juventus from the major football map in Europe for some period and we saw that the last couple of years for “The Old Lady” in the Champions League were not so successful, especially the last season when Juventus was eliminated in the group phase. “Bianconeri” even failed to lift the Europa League trophy and to reach the final game at their own “Juventus Stadium” in Turin but now it seems that “The Old Lady” can bounce back as the team from Turin will have play against the odds, since Barcelona is considered for a favorite, but so were Real Madrid, as “Los Blancos” suffered a huge pain after the two-legged semifinal round against the Italian champions – the 2:1 win for Juventus in Turin, and the draw in Madrid, which will be remembered with Alvaro Morata’s strike, as the former Real Madrid youngster punished his past club with goals in both matches. However, despite the tough semifinal matchups, Juventus had a long way and we want to remind you few moments in the Champions League season of Massimiliano Allegri and his men, but we must applause Allegri’s contribution at “Juventus Stadium”, who has gone a long way to this spectacular moment.
Juventus started their Champions League campaign with hopes for something different than last year’s fiasco in Istanbul, where even the weather conditions were against the Italian team, and the curse of Italian teams in Italy was extended for some period. However, we must talk for the past one year and Juventus started their Champions League participation in Group A where “I Bianconeri” were with the last years finalists Atletico Madrid, and with the champions of Greece and Sweden – Olympiacos and Malmö FF. Three wins, draw and two defeats were enough for Juventus to reach the Round of 16, but not to end on first position in the group and this was the reason why the chances of Juventus for final glory were so underestimated. However, after the Champions League Round of 16 draw, Juventus and Borussia Dortmund were involved in one from the most intriguing 1/8 final couples, at least on paper, and after the 2:1 win for Juventus at “Juventus Stadium”, the intrigue for the second leg seemed to be alive. But things went in a different way and in a period when Juventus already made a huge step to defend its “Calcio” title, then “I Bianconeri” achieved their biggest (as a result) win in this year’s Champions League season – the 3:0 success over Borussia Dortmund at their own “Signal Iduna Park” in Dortmund. Only then people start talking about the real opportunity of Juventus to lift the most wanted trophy in all UEFA club competitions, especially after the 1/4 finals draw that scheduled the two-legged matchup between Juventus and the French representative AS Monaco. At first look Juventus were looking as a clear favorite but the final 1:0 on aggregate speaks that “The Old Lady” had some breathtaking moments, but in final Juventus reached the semi-finals, and perhaps all of your remember the picture with 3 lads and 1 nice looking lady, which depicted the teams of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern München, who were all dreaming to “arrange a date with the lady” – Real Madrid was the “lucky lad” after the Champions League semi-finals draw.
Barcelona in the Champions League – season 2014/2015
If Juventus reached the Champions League Final quite unexpectedly, then what can we say for the Spanish champions? With such a solid attacking formation and with the new manager Luis Enrique, all hopes of Barca’s supporters were dreaming for the La Liga trophy and for the Champions League as well, while the Copa del Rey success is a big bonus who makes Barca’s season even more remarkable. Now Luis Enrique will have the opportunity, which two Dutchmen and one local lad already had – Johan Cruyff, Frank Rijkaard and Pep Guardiola (twice) – to leave their names with golden letters in Barcelona’s history. Now the ex-teammate of Pep Guardiola, Luis Enrique, will chase his biggest success ever – and that’s the beautiful Champions League trophy. Pep Guardiola became Luis Enrique’s victim in the semifinals, where Barcelona took their sweet-sweet revenge revenge for the “7up” from two years ago, when Bayern München won with 7:0 on aggregate, before winning the trophy in 2013. Now Barcelona overcame “The Bavarians” with not such an impressive difference, but the 3:0 victory at “Camp Nou” was a real joy for all Barca fans, while the 2:3 defeat in Munich was without any matter, since the aggregate result remains 5:3 in Barca’s favor. Now Barcelona will travel once again for Germany, this time to Berlin, where Barcelona will chase their fourth consecutive final win in the Champions League, as the last time when they met Italian team in the Champions League final was in season 1993/1994, when they lost with 0:4 from AC Milan of Fabio Capello. Twenty one years later Barcelona will once again meet an Italian team in the Champions League final and they definitely have a history against Italian teams, since their first ever Champions League trophy came after Ronald Koeman’s extra time winner against Sampdoria – 1:0 on the old “Wembley Stadium” in London. This was the first final won by Barcelona (in the UCL) and it was followed by three wins in the next four finals, which Barca had – wins against Arsenal (2006) and two times against Manchester United of sir Alex Ferguson – 2:0 and 3:1, respectively in 2009 and 2011.
Luis Enrique’s men were considered as one from the major favorites even despite the fact that Luis Suarez started his appearances in a later stage, but it seems that he already worked out very well with the other two big names in Barca’s attack – Lionel Messi and Neymar. Of course, that’s just a part of Barcelona’s strength but their contribution for reaching the final in Berlin is huge, as Messi, Neymar and Suarez have scored 25 goals, which is almost 100% of all goals which Barcelona have scored in the Champions League this season – 28. The only others who managed to score are Gerard Piqué, Ivan Rakitić and Sandro Ramírez.
Barcelona can boast with the sculls of the Premier League 2013-2014 champions – Manchester City, the French Ligue 1 champion PSG, and of course with the semi-final success over the Bundesliga champions – Bayern München. Impressive record by Barcelona, who have only 2 defeats in 12 Champions League efforts, as their both losses came against the teams of PSG and Bayern München, as the first one was in the group stage, while the other one was in their last Champions League game, which was already decided, after Neymar’s two first half goals.
When we mentioned the group stage we just want to remind you who were the other opponents of the Catalans – PSG (again), Ajax Amsterdam and APOEL Nicosia, as Barcelona finished on first position in Group F, where Luis Enrique’s men finished with 15 points.
Final conclusion, betting bonus, betting prediction and expectations – Champions League 2015 Final – Juventus vs Barcelona 6.06.2015
We can say that we are in the eve of the most awaited game in the European club football and we have two solid names in the European football history. It is not so correct to award someone with the favorite role, since we have seen lots of examples, where the favorite fails but this time we can’t miss to admire the magical stuff in Barcelona’s attack, who are very well supported by all other fields in Luis Enrique’s formation. Ivan Rakitic’s signature was very strong transfer for Barca’s board and the Croatian already became a vital part of Barca’s midfield, where he replaces Xavi very well. On other side the Barcelona’s veteran Xavi Hernández will find his place in Barcelona’s group for the last time, as he already took his official farewell with “Camp Nou” in the domestic scene, and as all of you know one living legend will leave Barcelona after the season’s end. However we expect that Xavi will find his play on the bench while Barca’s midfield trio will be formed by the names of Iniesta, Rakitic and Sergio Busquets, who had huge impact over Barcelona’s success in all fields. The defensive look of Barcelona looks strengthened, comparing it to the last couple of years, and logically Barcelona was the team with least conceded goals in Spanish La Liga – 21 goals against 110 scored.
We can say the same for Juventus – “The Old Lady” ended with only 3 defeats in the Serie A season, where they were the team with least conceded goals – 24, while they were the team with most goals scored – 72, against 71 for Lazio and 70 for Napoli. Of course we can’t compare the competitivity in both leagues, since Barcelona were arguing with Real Madrid until the last few rounds, while Juventus were looking like a sure champion for some months before the season’s end. Lack of huge competition in Serie A (like the teams of Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Valencia, Sevila – who will all take part in the next Champions League season) is certainly a huge factor, who is in Barcelona’s favor here, and we believe that despite the many positives which we saw in the team from Turin, Barcelona will manage to lift their 5th Champions League trophy, which will equalize the accomplishments of Bayern Munich and Liverpool, who are with 5 trophies in the UCL, while Barcelona are currently with 4 trophies and 3 lost finals.
Juventus have won the Champions League trophy twice – in 1985 and 1996, as the last time when Juventus won the trophy was against Ajax of Louis van Gaal, while we are pretty sure that no one doesn’t want to remember for the first trophy, which came in the “Heysel Stadium” tragedy and the Champions League 1985 final between Juventus and Liverpool. 30 years after that tragedy Juventus will travel for Germany, where “The Old Lady” will have Spanish opposition, as the first and at the same time last time when Juventus met a Spanish team in the Champions League final was in the end of season 1997-1998, when Marcello Lippi’s Juventus lost against Real Madrid of Jupp Heynckes. “The Old Lady” already took their revenge from Real Madrid but we don’t think that they can stop the amazing attacking trio of Barcelona and that’s the main reason why our pick is for Barcelona.
There are some rumors (we don’t want to approve it, unless it’s officially announced by Juventus and the Champions League official page) that Giorgio Chiellini will miss the Final because of a calf injury, which he picked up in Wednesday’s training, but we don’t believe to some news, sometimes, especially before such a games. This can easily be a speculation and we can see Chiellini on the field, as the Italian defender is one from the two Juventus players who are willing for revenge against Luis Suarez, who on his side suffered two awful suspensions after his conflicts with Patrice Evra and Giorgio Chiellini, as the first one was from Suarez’s period in Liverpool and the accusations of racism against Patrice Evra, who then was Manchester United’s player, while the second suspension came after the World Cup game between Uruguay and Italy, and the famous bite which Suarez did. However, we will pick the win for Barcelona – with or without Chiellini, as we believe that Barcelona is too strong at the moment and a possible “treble” will be pretty much deserved.
Possible starting lineups, injured players and referee of the UEFA Champions League 2015 Final
Juventus: Buffon – Evra, Barzagli, Bonucci, Lichtsteiner – Marchisio, Pirlo, Pogba – Vidal – Morata, Tevez. (4-3-1-2)
Injured – Martín Cáceres. Doubtful: Andrea Barzagli, Giorgio Chiellini.
Barcelona: Stegen – Alves, Pique, Mascherano, Alba – Rakitic, Busquets, Iniesta – Messi, Suarez, Neymar. (4-3-3)
Doubtful: Andrés Iniesta.
Referee: Cüneyt Çakır from Turkey.
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