Barcelona 3-0 Juventus: Match Review

First half

The match started off with quite some pressure on Juventus’ path. Cristiano Ronaldo was visibly ecstatic to play against Barcelona, and the Catalans seemed somewhat shaky defensively.

Nonetheless, the Blaugrana took the lead within three minutes. A quickfire counterattack had Yusuf Demir setting Memphis Depay up. Once the Dutchman got into the penalty area, he struck the ball neatly past Schezny to open the scoring.

When the match got to the ten-minute mark, the crowd held a minute of applause for the departed Messi.

It was only a quarter of an hour in that Juventus got their first shot on goal from a rather infamous figure, Ronaldo himself. His powerful strike was well-chested by Neto in goal. Barcelona’s pressure forced mistakes from Juve’s defence, and if not for a tight offside call on Antoine Griezmann, Demir would have doubled the scoreline.

In the 36th minute, Antoine Griezmann played a sumptuous ball into Braithwaite. The Dane forced a stunning stop, but Griezmann’s rebound was wrongly disallowed for an offside call 

The game opened up, and Juve went on their own barrage of attacks on Neto’s goal. The Brazilian made five stunning saves by the end of the first half.

First half score: Barcelona 1-0 Juventus

Second half

Barcelona did a commendable job at maintaining and dictating the tempo from early on. They pushed forward and defended quite well for the first few minutes, all until an error in judgment from Gerard Pique shifted the balance in Juve’s favour.

The more Barça kept possession, the more comfortable they were in attack. Griezmann combined with all and sundry, forcing yet another mistake from Juventus. Cometh the hour, cometh the man, and from the corner, Martin Braithwaite was that man. The Dane rose above all else, scoring a wonderful header past Schezny in goal.

Antoine Griezmann’s contributions, both offensive and defensive were sublime. He combined with a host of players in attack, even dribbling every once in a while. On the defensive side of things, he made sure to press and win the ball back to secure possession. He was pulling the strings in the attack.

Ronald Koeman made brilliantly timed changes, a weakness he had shown in the previous campaign. The likes of Riqui puig, Nico Gonzales and Alex Balde from the club’s cantera made their way into the team. Each of them, in one way or another, made sure to have their presence felt.

As the game drew to a close, Barcelona did a commendable job at defending with the ball at their feet. Juventus, therefore, had few chances, if any to attack, and Barça preserved their clean sheet in their final preseason game.

In the final minute of the tie, Riqui Puig took advantage of the added possession and scored a phenomenal goal to close off the tie. An absolute golazo on his left foot. Brilliant start to the post-Messi era.

Full time score: Barcelona 3-0 Juventus

The post Barcelona 3-0 Juventus: Match Review appeared first on Barca Universal.



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