Juventus to play FC Barcelona in final in Berlin

Juventus will be the blaugranes’ opponent in the Champions League final which will be played on 6 June in Berlin. La Vecchia Signora have overcome Real Madrid in the semi-finals 3-2 on aggregate (2-1 in Turin and 1-1 in Madrid) after the second leg on Wednesday evening in the Santiago Bernabéu. It will be the first time that the Barça and Juventus have met in the final of Europe’s top club competition.

More than a decade has passed since the two sides have met in European competition. The last time they crossed swords came in a Champions League encounter in 2003, an extra time goal from Uruguayan striker Zalayeta knocking out a Barça side that contained current coach Luis Enrique.

Previously, the teams had met in the semi-finals of the European Cup Winners’ Cup in the season 1990/91, in the European Cup quarter-finals and in the old Fairs Cup in the season 1970/71. Barça went through in the ties in the Cup Winners’ Cup and in the European Cup with the Italians emerging victorious in the Fairs Cup.
Now they will meet again in Berlin in what will be FC Barcelona’s fourth final in ten years and the first for the Turin club since 2003. Juventus have won the competition on two previous occasions, in 1985 and in 1996 and they have also been runners-up five times, in 1973, 1983, 1997, 1998 and 2003.

Also on for the treble

To get to the final in Berlin, Juventus have had to see off Borussia Dortmund, Monaco and Real Madrid. In the group stage they finished in second place behind Atlético Madrid but ahead of Olympiacos and Malmö. The Italians are gunning for the treble as they are already league champions and finalists in the Coppa Italia.