Dominant Barcelona get past Juventus in Turin
Barcelona make short work of Juventus in Turin.
Barcelona remain perfect in the Champions League as the side managed by Ronald Koeman got past Juventus 2-0.
With goals by Ousmane Dembélé and Lionel Messi, the Catalans won for the first time in their history in Turin.
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Barcelona played arguable their best game of the season with plenty of changes in the starting lineup compared to the one that played against Real Madrid over the weekend.
The youngster Pedri took the place of the injured Philippe Coutinho on the left. Ronald Araujo, Miralem Pjanic and the return of Antoine Griezmann were the other changes from the clasico lineup.
Despite some early pressure from Juventus, it was Messi who broke through and played a long ball to Dembélé on the right. The Frenchman took on a couple of defenders and took a shot from just outside the box. It took a deflection but found the back of the net.
From then on it was all Barcelona who should have scored a couple more goals in the half.
The performance was more of the same in the second and it wasn’t until late when a penalty on Ansu Fati put the game to rest once and for all.
It was as close to a complete performance with Griezmann playing very well despite not scoring. He hit the post early to start the game and had a nice backheel to Messi who pulled his shot wide. A performance that should be good for his confidence.
The standout performer this time around was Pedri. Serving a similar function like the one against Real Madrid, he was vital in stopping any sort of threat from the Italians. Especially on the left where the plan clearly seemed to be targeting Jordi Alba. He was not intimated playing out from the back and more often than not got the better of Juan Cuadrado.
The only blemish on the night was the injury to Ronald Araujo. The center-back went down late in the first half and was replaced by Sergio Busquets to start the second. Frenkie de Jong played the entire second half at center-back and did a commendable job.
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Juventus were a shell of their former team but that is not the Catalans’ problem who went out there and did what they had to. They top their group with their next game at home against Dynamo Kyiv.