It´s been 10 years since FC Barcelona last tasted Champions League glory, and with the club on the verge of the quarterfinals, let´s look back at the 2014/2015 Champions League final against Italian giants Juventus.
The road to the final started in Group F where they faced PSG, APOEL, and Ajax. Not the easiest of groups, but certainly not a group of death. They emerged as winners of the group and faced Manchester City in the Round of 16, winning 3-1 on aggregate leading to a rematch with PSG in the quarterfinals. They easily disposed of the French 5-1 setting up a semifinal with Bayern Munich. After winning the 1st leg 3-0 at home things got nervy in Munich with Bayern winning 3-2 on the day but Barca advancing 5-3 on aggregate.
The final was held in Berlin´s Olympiastadion and was the first Champions League final between two of the biggest clubs in the world. Both were also sitting on the chance of winning a treble, adding to an already tense atmosphere.
Manager Luis Enrique started with ter Stegen in goal, the only player still on Barca´s current roster, Pique and Mascherano at centerback, with Dani Alves and Jordi Alba wide. In the middle Busquets, Iniesta and Rakitic, and up front Messi, Neymar and Suarez. Of note on the bench were both Xavi and Pedro.
Juventus had some names you may recongnize….Buffon, Morata, Tevez, Vidal, Pirlo, Bonucci, Pogba, and Evra were all in the first IX, and a very young Kingsley Coman was on the bench for coach Massimo Allegri.
Things got moving quickly from the first whistle with Rakitic scoring the 4th fastest goal in Champions League history in the 4th minute. Both teams settled in from there and aside from an 11th minute yellow card from Juventus´ Nacho Vidal (surprise), the rest of the first half was rather tame.
Alvaro Morata equalized just 10 minutes into second half, a rebound from a Carlos Tevez strike and Juventus was handed a lifeline that unfortunately didn´t last long as Suarez tapped in a rebound off a Messi shot in the 68th minute.
Xavi would come on in the 78th minute in his final appearance for FC Barcleona, and Pedro would enter in the 96th minute, just in time to assist Neymar for Barca´s 3rd goal and the final was 3-1.
The victory meant Barca was the only team to win the treble two times, and the loss meant that Juventus became the only team in Champions League history to lose 6 finals. Ouch.
10 years on does this 2024/2025 team have what it takes to bring the Champions League back to Catalunya? We shall see in the next 2 months but there´s certainly hope.