Barcelona Beat Ronaldoless Juventus in Italy
Barcelona scored in the both halves to beat Juventus 2-0 in the second leg of the Champions League. The Spanish side capitalized on red on one the Juve players. Sergio Roberto said: “the best response” to the “turmoil” off the pitch by convincingly beating Juventus in the Champions League.”
“The best response we could give to the turmoil at the club is a display like this.” “Everybody has been talking a lot but the team simply want to win games.”
It has been a whirlwind few days for the Spanish giants as they lost 3-1 to Real Madrid in El Clasico on Saturday. The club’s president Josep Maria Bartomeu also announced his resignation.
However, they made it two wins from two in this season’s Champions League group stage. Ousmane Dembele and Lionel Messi scored in either half of the clash to beat poor Juventus side. Juventus player Merih Demiral was sent off late in the game after picking up a second yellow card.
Dembele opened the scoring when his deflected shot looped over Wojciech Szczesny in the Juventus goal. Messi then wrapped up the win in stoppage time from the penalty spot.
Juventus was without Cristiona Ronaldo who is currently in self-isolation as he has the coronavirus. The draw caught the eyes of fans for the possibility of a Ronaldo and Messi reunion after two years.
Without Ronaldo, Juventus lacked bite in tha attack line. Morata however had the ball in the net on three occasions, but each was ruled out by VAR.
Victory means Barcelona are top of Group G, three points ahead of Juventus and Dynamo Kyiv.
Barca Almost Back to their Best
Barcelona have been poor by their own high standards so far this season, having won just two of their first five La Liga games, but there were glimpses of them back to their best in this game.
Their passing was at times slick with Messi unsurprisingly at the heart of the best moments.
The victory should perhaps have been by a greater margin against a Juventus side that offered very little but after a difficult week, Barcelona will take the win as a step in the right direction.
“I’m very content with the football we played, with the result and especially with the character my team showed,” said Barcelona boss Ronald Koeman.
“We created a lot of goal chances and, frankly, I think we should have finished the match off much earlier.”
