Eyes of the soccer world fixed on titanic Champions League final
Incredible Messi leads Barcelona but don’t count out proud Juventus
Trust an old campaigner like Gigi Buffon to put a fresh spin on a familiar theme.
“(Lionel) Messi,” marvelled the 37-year-old Juventus shotblocker earlier this week, “is an alien, dedicating himself to playing with humans. I hope this Saturday he will be from earth, like rest of us.”
Now Buffon, a singularly happy-go-lucky fellow who smiles perpetually, was only joking, of course. But, it would explain a lot … (That recent much-replayed goal against unfortunate Athletic Bilbao, for instance, starting along the right touchline, the Argentinian impresario dribbling weightlessly past four defenders with an almost George Best-ian audacity before coolly finishing, left-footed, into the bottom corner).
The focus of the entire footballing world has turned to the atmospheric, unmatchable Olympiastadion in Berlin for the 2015 Champions League final. The biggest game of this season. Of any non-World Cup season, in fact.
Two of the most luminous names in world of football. Both in search of a treble — league championship, league Cup and finally, most importantly, the Champions League.
For FC Barcelona, the chance to consolidate their claim of finest club side to be found anywhere (deliciously swiping back the title from rivals Real Madrid) and claim a fourth Champions League over the past nine years.
For Juventus, an opportunity to finally shed the taint of calciopoli and vault the Biaconeri once more to the summit. Italy’s fabled Old Lady has done an artful job at refreshing and reloading since an embarrassing demotion to Serie B for their part in 2006’s matchfixing scandal. New players. New stadium. New optimism.
Not to mention four scudetti in succession (Nos. 28 through 31).
This marks their first CL final appearance since losing a dour penalty shootout at Old Trafford to Italian rivals A.C. Milan seven seasons ago. Despite their daunting domestic pedigree, Juve haven’t actually conquered Europe since 1996, beating Ajax on penalties in Rome.
As is often the case in finals, this match is teeming with subplots.
Two managers — Milan reject Max Allegri and former Roma boss Luis Enrique — with much to prove, looking to make their mark on the grandest stage.
And then there’s the location. Good luck for the Italians? The Olympiastadion happens to be the site of the nation’s great recent footballing triumph, the 2006 World Cup final, beating head-knocking Zinedine Zidane and France on penalties. Three of Juve’s current squad — Buffon, Andrea Pirlo and Andrea Barzagli — were part of the Azzurri roster that night.
Might be Saturday marks the final game in their respective colours for a couple of incomparable string-pullers, as well.
Barca legend Xavi Hernandez is signed, sealed and off to Qatar to finish out his career in relative retirement while there’s a possibility it might also be the Juve swansong for the sublime Pirlo, linked in the Italian press recently to a lucrative MLS move.
At least one of the main prekickoff talking points has died down with the muscular injury that’s ruled out Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini. Saturday would have marked Chiellini’s first match against Luis Suarez since the ravenous Uruguayan striker infamously snacked on the defender’s left shoulder during last summer’s World Cup in Brazil, earning a lengthy ban. Well, you can’t have everything. How potent is the Barca front three? To put it into context: Messi- Suarez-Neymar accounted for 81 goals this La Liga season. By comparison, Bundesliga titans Bayern Munich, as a team, scored 80, Premiership champions Chelsea 73 and Juve 70.
Their form alone has installed the Catalans as firm betting favourites.
“As I said a week ago,’’ Buffon repeated Friday, “they’re deservedly considered favourites as they have great individual qualities.
“A team with Messi, Neymar and Suarez, along with (Andres) Iniesta behind, can never not be favourites. That’s normal. But when you have a team like Juve, (we’re) not necessarily lambs to the slaughter.’’
Xavi, for one, is approaching Saturday with caution.
“Everybody thinks that Barca is going to win but Juventus have an exceptional squad,’’ he told Italian paper La Gazzetta dello Sport this week. “I have a theory about when a team wins two, three, four titles in a row, there’s nothing accidental about it. I know some people think Juventus wins the scudetto with ease and therefore with no great merit but it looks like that because they do things the right way.
“They have players … who have been playing and winning together for many years. I see them as a great family. I don’t know them but I’m sure that’s what it’s like.’’
The style of match is easy to predict. Barca with their usual staggering time of possession, probing, dictating tempo, looking for a weakness, making their opponents work without the ball. Juve sitting back, absorbing pressure, waiting to strike on the break via the likes of Paul Pogba or Carlos Tevez.
Expect a close final. Italian sides, particularly one the pedigree of the Old Lady, don’t succumb easily.
The outcome of the match the entire football world is turning to Saturday, then, could be decided by a call. By a clumsy challenge in the box. By a tactical change. By a luminous save. By a decisive, throat-cutting pass from one of the two string-pullers.
Or, as so often happens in Barca matches, by an alien who’s dedicated himself to playing with humans.