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We track Barcelona's route to Berlin

Tomorrow evening sees Barcelona and Juventus face each other in the Champions League final for th...
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Newstalk

14.22 5 Jun 2015


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We track Barcelona's r...

We track Barcelona's route to Berlin

Newstalk
Newstalk

14.22 5 Jun 2015


Share this article


Tomorrow evening sees Barcelona and Juventus face each other in the Champions League final for the first time. Both teams journeys to the Olympiastadion in Berlin have been relatively straight forward, only losing four games between them in 24 matches.

Today, we track the Spanish sides route to the final before looking at Juve's path to the final tomorrow.

Barcelona

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Last seasons Spanish runners up entered the Champions League in the group stages and were drawn with Paris Saint-Germain, Ajax and APOEL Nicosia on Group F.

Luis Enrique's side began their campaign with a straightforward win over APOEL in the Nou Camp. Gerard Pique scored the only goal of the game as the side won an expected three points. The next match was to be their toughest of the group stages, losing in Paris 3-2 to PSG. Goals from Lionel Messi and Neymar were not enough to gain a point in the French capital as Barca dropped to second place in the group.

Their back to back games came against Ajax where they won at both the Nou Camp and in Amsterdam. A 3-1 win at home was followed by a 2-0 in the Amsterdam Arena as the side remained a point behind the Parisians. Lionel Messi continued his excellent Champions League form scoring three times against the Dutch side.

The Catalan side travelled to Cyprus on Matchday Five, where they proved to be too powerful for Cillian Sheridan's side, winning 4-0. Lionel Messi was the hero again for the side scoring a hat trick in the facile win.

The final matchday saw the top two face off in a winner takes all clash to top the Group. PSG's win in Paris  against Barcelona saw them continue to lead the group and a draw was all they needed to top the group. The French champions took the lead in the Nou Camp through Zlatan Ibrahimovic before Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez all scored to help Barcelona to Group F. It was the first time the trio all scored in a Champions League game for the future finalists.

As with the season before, Barcelona were drawn with Manchester City in the last 16, and the result was not to be any different. Only for the heroics of Joe Hart in the first leg, Barcelona only won in Manchester, 2-1 with Messi missing a penalty late in the game to give Manuel Pellegrini's side some hope for the away leg.

Ivan Rakitic scored on the half hour mark in the Nou Camp, to ease the burden on Enrique's side as they comfortably reached the last eight, winning 3-1 on aggregate.

The quarter final draw saw a repeat of their Group F clashes, as Barcelona were drawn with PSG in the quarter finals. A masterclass from Luis Suarez helped the Spanish side to a 3-1 away win in the first leg. An only goal from Jeremy Mathieu late in the game was the only negative in an imperious performance.

The second leg was a straightforward one, with Neymar scoring twice in the first half to ensure the passage to the last four.

Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich were the semi final opponents for Barcelona, but even Guardiola's knowledge of the side was not good enough to stop the Catalans. Bayern held the home team scoreless for over 70 minutes before Messi scored twice in four minutes and Neymar scored in added time to put the tie out of reach for the Bavarians.

An early Robert Lewandowski goal in the second leg gave Bayern hope, but two goals from Neymar booked their ticket to Berlin, despite losing the second leg 3-2.

Tomorrow's final is Barcelona's eighth in the European Cup have won four of the previous seven. The game against Juventus will be their third final against Italian opposition having beaten Fiorentina in 1992 before losing to AC Milan, two years later.


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