2015 UCL Final - Juventus vs. Barcelona ('Superbowl of Europe')

[gettlemanjack]

This will be the eighth European Cup/UEFA Champions League finals for both Juventus and Barcelona.

Juventus

1973 - L (0-1 to Ajax, it was Ajax's third straight year as the Champions of Europe. The legendary concept of "Total Football" was pioneered by Ajax (Netherlands) from 1965 to 1973, and further used by the Netherlands National Team)

...

1983 - L (0-1 to back-to-back Bundesliga Champs Hamburg - who had the Bundesliga record for most consecutive games unbeaten until it was broken by Bayern in 2013)

1985 - W (1-0 over Liverpool) Heysel Stadium disaster, 39 Juve fans died

...

1996 - W (beat defending European Champs Ajax: van Gaal, de Boer, van der Sar, Davids, Kluivert etc)

1997 - L (to back-to-back Bundesliga champs Borussia Dortmund, who was led by the last German to win the Ballon d'Or: Matthias Sammer in 1996, as well as multiple players that won both a WC and a Euro for the German National Team)

1998 - L (0-1 to Real Madrid, who knocked out Borussia Dortmund in the semi-final)

...

2003 - L (0-0 draw then lost 2-3 on penalties to AC Milan, who had the 2004 Ballon d'Or winner Shevchenko (#4 in 2003), 2003 Ballon d'Or 3rd place Maldini, three others that finished in the 2003 Ballon d'Or vote: Dida (12th), Nesta (13th), Inzaghi (20th), plus in-his-prime Clarence Seedorf (who was named to the Fifa 100)

2015 - ?

Barcelona

1961 - L (2-3 to Benfica)

...

1986 - L (0-2 on PKs to Steaua București of Romania)

...

1992 - W (1-0 over Sampdoria, weak year, neither of them played anybody)

1994 - L (0-4 to AC Milan)

....

2006 - W (2-1 over Arsenal, who was #4 in the EPL that year (67 pts), neck-and-neck with #5 Hotspur (65 pts)...neither came close to the Top 3 in the EPL (82, 83, and 91 pts)

2009 - W (2-0 over EPL champs Manchester United)

2011 - W (3-1 over EPL champs Manchester United)

2015 - ?

[gettlemanjack]

Barcelona features what might be the most formidable 3-man group of attackers in history

[gettlemanjack]

[Goondal]

The UCL Final is not the Super Bowl of Europe. The Super Bowl is the UCL Final of the USA

[C47]

The UCL Final is not the Super Bowl of Europe. The Super Bowl is the UCL Final of the USA

 

This, and it's likely going be lackluster as hell too. Barcelona should be able to shred Juve's back line with their passing and runs into the box. This could be ugly. 

[gettlemanjack]

The UCL Final is not the Super Bowl of Europe. The Super Bowl is the UCL Final of the USA

The UCL Final is the biggest game of the year of all the pro teams in Europe

The Super Bowl is the biggest game of the year of all the pro teams in the US

If you were explaining the significance of the UCL Final to Americans that never heard of it, you say it's like the 'Super Bowl of Europe'

If you were explaining the significance of the Super Bowl to Europeans that never heard of it, you say it's like the 'UCL Final of the USA'

obviously, being that this is an American forum populated by Americans, the former makes much more sense to use here than the latter

Between the two games, it's an interesting question as to which is a bigger deal to their respective fanbases. Being that soccer is popular globally, and the UCL Final has players from all over the world, you'd think the UCL Final would blow away the Super Bowl in viewership. I remember this was the case 10-20 years ago per a Sports Illustrated piece I read, but I'm surprised to now learn this hasn't been the case since then:

2010: "the Champions' League final has overtaken the Super Bowl as the most popular televised event in global club sport. ... The Super Bowl, traditionally the biggest TV event in global club sport"

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/european/elite-clubs-on-uefa-gravy-train-as-super-bowl-knocked-off-perch-1884429.html

2012:

"Champions League surpasses Super Bowl THE growth of the Champions League into a football phenomenon has been underlined by a new study which reveals it has usurped the Super Bowl to become the world’s biggest annual sporting event."

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/366335/Champions-League-surpasses-Super-Bowl

And if you take out the global audience and compare just the European audience that watches the UCL Final to the American audience that watches the Super Bowl, that would be interesting to see who has more

[DirtyMagic97]

Love watching The Champions League Final. I remember the feeling of having your club playing for that trophy. Nothing quite like winning Champions League.

[gettlemanjack]

This, and it's likely going be lackluster as hell too. Barcelona should be able to shred Juve's back line with their passing and runs into the box. This could be ugly.

Would be much more interesting if you took Suarez off Barca and put him on Juve

as it is, of course Barcelona are the clear favorites

in their 12 Champions League games, the trifecta of Messi/Neymar/Suarez have only been held scoreless twice, both times in Barcelona (Game 1 vs APOEL in Sept 2014 and Game 2 vs Man City in March 2015)

in the other 10 games, that trifecta has scored at least 2 goals against everyone:

Gm 1 vs PSG (1 Messi, 1 Neymar, 0 Suarez)

Gm 2 vs PSG (1 Messi, 1 Neymar, 1 Suarez)

Gm 3 vs PSG (0 Messi, 1 Neymar, 2 Suarez)

Gm 4 vs PSG (0 Messi, 2 Neymar, 0 Suarez)

Gm 1 vs Bayern (2 Messi, 1 Neymar, 0 Suarez)

Gm 2 vs Bayern (0 Messi, 2 Neymar, 0 Suarez)

Gm 1 vs Man City (0 Messi, 0 Neymar, 2 Suarez)

Gm 1 vs Ajax (1 Messi, 1 Neymar, 0 Suarez)

Gm 2 vs Ajax (2 Messi, 0 Neymar, 0 Suarez)

Gm 2 vs APOEL (3 Messi, 0 Neymar, 1 Suarez)

Total in those 10 games: 25 goals by the trifecta

10 Messi (3 vs APOEL, 3 vs Ajax, 2 vs PSG, 2 vs Bayern)

9 Neymar (5 vs PSG, 3 vs Bayern, 2 vs Ajax)

6 Suarez (3 vs PSG, 2 vs Man City, 1 vs APOEL)

Total in the six games in the knockout stage: 12 goals by the trifecta

6 - Neymar (3 vs Bayern, 3 vs PSG)

4 - Suarez (2 vs Man City, 2 vs PSG)

2 - Messi (2 vs Bayern)

[gettlemanjack]

of Barca's 12 Champions League games, they have 10 wins, 2 losses

The two losses were both by a score of 2-3 (Gm 1 vs PSG in Paris in the group stage and Gm 2 vs Bayern in Munich in the semi-finals)

[gettlemanjack]

this 2015 UCL Final might be the first ever to feature two multiple South American Footballer of the Year winners:

3x - Carlos Tevez (2003 , 2004 , 2005) Boca Juniors, Corinthians

2x - Neymar (2011, 2012) - Santos

compare to:

2x - Diego Maradona (1979 , 1980) - Buenos Aires clubs

1x - Pelé (1973) - Santos

note: both Neymar and Pele played for Santos, which is the port town about 30 miles from São Paulo, where Tevez played for Corinthians, both located in Brazil, where Samba dancing originated

note: both Tevez and Diego Maradona played for Boca Juniors in Buenos Aires, Argentina (where the current pope is from, as well as where Tango dancing originated)

note: not only are Tevez and Neymar both multiple-time South American Footballer of the Year winners, but both were born on Feb 5 (same day Christiano Ronaldo was born)

[gettlemanjack]

[gettlemanjack]

Tevez on his Argentina teammate Messi:

“Messi is the best player in the world, even in the semi-finals he did crazy things,” he told Sky. “He is a player from another planet.

http://www.soccerladuma.co.za/news/articles/categories/messi-ronaldo-neymar-watch-1/carlos-tevez-fears-crazy-lionel-messi/209590

[gettlemanjack]

updated Champions League Player Rankings by Sam Tighe of England, Lead Writer at B/R, specialising in the Premier League, tactical analysis and scouting reports.

Barcelona

1. Lionel Messi

3. Luis Suarez

4. Neymar

7. Jordi Alba

10. Ivan Rakitic

13. Dani Alves

15. Javier Mascherano

Juventus

5. Arturo Vidal

6. Claudio Marchisio

8. Alvaro Morata

9. Carlos Tevez (down from #5)

11. Leonardo Bonucci

12. Patrice Evra - shut down Bale

Real Madrid

2. Cristiano Ronaldo

Bayern

14. Thiago Alcantara

http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles/2464395-champions-league-player-rankings-neymar-bonucci-rise-tevez-falls/page/16

[gettlemanjack]

updated Top 25 clubs in the world (just before Bayern's W over Barcelona) by Sam Tighe of England, Lead Writer at B/R, specialising in the Premier League, tactical analysis and scouting reports.

LA LIGA

1. Barcelona

5. Atletico Madrid

6. Real Madrid (down from #2 last week)

7. Valencia

9. Sevilla

SERIES A

2. Juventus

11. Lazio

22. Napoli

Dropped Out: Roma (#24 last week)

BUNDESLIGA

10 . Bayern Munich (down from #6 after losing 4 straight)

12. Borussia Monchengladbach

16. Bayer Leverkusen

18. Wolfsburg

LIGUE 1

8. Paris Saint - Germain

15. Lyon

20. Monaco

21. Saint - Etienne

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

3. Chelsea - "the Premier League trophy is secured, and the Blues have nothing to play for"

4. Arsenal (down from #3 last week)

17 . Manchester City - Sergio Aguero, David Silva, Aleksandar Kolarov, Fernandinho...the list of excellent performances goes on. Even Eliaquim Mangala is beginning to play well!

PRIMEIRA LIGA

13 . FC Porto - Jackson Martinez (age 28/Colombia) made it 20 Primeira Liga goals for the season during FC Porto's 2-0 victory over Gil Vicente. He's had one hell of a season, so prepare for numerous transfer links to your club [note: Jackson Martinez has been awesome for years].

14 . Benfica - The Brazilian contingent of Anderson Talisca (age 21/Brazil), Lima (age 32/Brazil) and Jonas (age 31/Brazil) have accounted for an amazing 44 Primeira Liga goals between them

23. Sporting - William Carvalho (age 23/Portugal) is the star attraction, and Premier League eyes have been watching him carefully...but who else in the Sporting squad has impressed? Several young talents, such as Joao Mario (age 22/Portugal), Jonathan Silva (age 20/Argentina) and Carlos Mane (age 21/Portugal) should be interesting suitors this summer.

UKRAINIAN PREMIER LEAGUE

19 . Dynamo Kiev - Andriy Yarmolenko (age 25/Ukraine) and Artem Kravets (also age 25/Ukraine) have been running riot of late.

RUSSIAN PREMIER LEAGUE

24 . Zenit St. Petersburg

EREDIVISIE

25 . PSV Eindhoven - Memphis Depay (age 21/Netherlands) appears determined to give the fans something to remember him by. A 30-yard free-kick during the 2-0 win over Heracles should do the trick. The Old Trafford-bound Dutchman will be fondly remembered in these parts for decades to come.

http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles/2460849-ranking-the-top-25-european-clubs-after-weekend-of-may-9-10/page/27