UEFA Champions League - Soccer Wiretap

Barcelona, Juventus Will Wear Primary Kits For UCL Final

May 19, 2015 6:49 PM

Barcelona and Juventus will each wear their primary kits in the Champions League Final.

Barcelona will wear their blaugrana kit, while Juventus will don their signature black and white kit.

Barça wore blaugrana in the final at Wembley in 2011, in Rome in 2009, in Paris in 2006. In the competition in its former guise as the European Champions’ Club Cup, Barça wore blaugrana in 1994 in Athens and in 1961 in Berne. In Seville in 1986 they wore blue and at Wembley in 1992 they wore orange.

RealGM Staff Report

Tags: Barcelona, Juventus, UEFA Champions League

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Arsenal Has €4M Reasons To Root For Barcelona In Champions League

May 15, 2015 12:05 PM

Arsenal will reportedly receive approximately €4 million if Barcelona wins the Champions League.

The transfer deal of Thomas Vermaelen last summer included a provision that would send €4 million to the Gunners if they win the Champions League. Vermaelen has not featured for Barcelona all season due to injury.

Barcelona has won the Champions League in three of the last nine years.

Sport (via Chris Moore/World Soccer Talk)

Tags: Arsenal, Barcelona, UEFA Champions League

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Allegri Confident Despite 'Stratospheric Front Three' Of Barça

May 13, 2015 7:19 PM

Massimiliano Allegri is confident of Juventus' chances in the Champions League Final despite Barcelona being the heavy favorites.

"Barcelona are an almost impossible side to play against, but it's one thing to face them over two legs and another in a one-off match. Anything can happen there," he said.

"We are in good physical shape, they have a stratospheric front three and we go to Berlin convinced we can bring home the trophy."

ESPN

Tags: Barcelona, Juventus, IQ, UEFA Champions League

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Juventus Gets Past Real Madrid To Reach Champions League Final

May 14, 2015 11:42 AM

Juventus responded to an early goal from Real Madrid and have advanced to the Champions League Final 3-2 on aggregate and were clearly the better side over both legs.

Real Madrid had several promising chances in the opening minutes, but misplayed their attempts on Gigi Buffon, but the potency of their attack with Karim Benzema back in their XI was immediately clear.

Gareth Bale had a superb shot from outside the area that Buffon had to punch away. Juve was playing extremely defensive without much threat to counter, particularly due to the quality of Marcelo on the left side. Juve was conceding the wide areas of the pitch with how compact they were in defense. 

James Rodriguez won a penalty kick on a clumsy challenge just inside the area by Giorgio Chiellini. Cristiano Ronaldo converted the penalty to give Madrid a 1-0 lead after 23 minutes to make the tie 2-2 on aggregate and holding the away goal advantage.

Madrid had another great opportunity when Benzema laid off to Ronaldo on his left on a break, but Ronaldo let a defender fly by him instead of hitting a one-timer with his left foot and his cross to Isco drifted away for goal.

Juventus scored in the 57th minute when Andrea Pirlo sent a free kick into the box that Iker Casillas punched out but bounced back to Paul Pogba that was kept onside by Sergio Ramos. Pogba won the header and found Alvaro Morata for the sitter that beat Casillas for Juve to go up 3-2 on aggregate and the all-important away goal. 

In the 69th minute, Arturo Vidal found Claudio Marchisio all alone with a great chance that Casillas made an excellent diving save to stop.

In the 87th minute, Pogba almost sealed the match for Juventus but Casillas made another save.

Over the final 20 minutes of the match, Real Madrid was unable to manufacture legitimate scoring chances. Ronaldo and James had disappeared almost entirely, while Bale’s work rate was strong even though his quality was lacking.

According to Michael Caley of SBNation, Real Madrid's expected goals over the two legs was 3.5 compared to 2.7 for Juventus.

Juventus will meet Barcelona in the Final on June 6th in Berlin.

Christopher Reina/RealGM

Tags: Juventus, Real Madrid, UEFA Champions League

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Barcelona Advances To First UCL Final Since 2011

May 13, 2015 6:32 PM

Barcelona has advanced to their first Champions League Final since 2011.

Playing against Bayern Munich and their own former manager, Pep Guardiola, Barça controlled the entire tie and won 5-2 on aggregate.

Bayern needed to score three goals while keeping a clean sheet against Barcelona and found their first goal after just seven minutes when Mehdi Benatia put in a header off a corner.

But Barcelona responded quickly when Lionel Messi found Luis Suarez who in turn found Neymar to beat Manuel Neuer for the all-important road goal in the 15th minute (Vine). Suarez was kept barely onside on the play by Xabi Alonso.

At that point, Bayern would have needed to score four more goals to advance.

But Barcelona put another nail in the tie when Messi won a header against Bastian Schweinsteiger at the half-way line that he flicked to Suarez, who found Neymar for a second goal (Vine).

To their credit, Bayern kept battling in the second half with Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Muller scoring two brilliant goals of their own. But most of the damage had already been done in the first leg when Barcelona won 3-0 and the deficit was too great for Bayern to overcome, particularly without Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery.

Barcelona will play either Real Madrid or Juventus in the final in Berlin on June 6.

Christopher Reina/RealGM

Tags: Barcelona, Bayern Munich, UEFA Champions League

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Karim Benzema Expected To Play In 2nd Leg Against Juve

May 9, 2015 4:35 PM

Real Madrid expects Karim Benzema to play in the second leg of their Champions League tie against Juventus.

Benzema sat out the first leg with a knee injury.

Real Madrid trails Juventus 2-1 on aggregate.

Dermot Corrigan/ESPN

Tags: Real Madrid, Injury, UEFA Champions League

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Real Madrid Not Giving Up On Sergio Ramos In Midfield

May 8, 2015 2:45 PM

Carlo Ancelotti says Real Madrid will continue to experiment with Sergio Ramos in a midfield role.

The defender was preferred to Lucas Silva, Sami Khedira and Asier Illarramendi in the middle of the pitch with Luka Modric out.

"I have not made a decision on whether Ramos will be a midfielder again," Ancelotti said at a press conference.

"Ramos in midfield is not over yet, though. He can play in many positions and I believe in him 100 per cent.

"He had a difficult game in Turin, but that doesn't mean he cannot play in midfield. I will field him there again if necessary.

"This has nothing to do with having a lack of faith in my other midfielders. I make a decision game by game.

"Playing Ramos in midfield is not a gamble. It was not a foolish move when we beat Atletico Madrid and Sevilla... I don't think it's reckless to play Sergio in midfield."

Real Madrid will play Juventus in the second leg of their Champions League tie on Wednesday.

Stefan Coerts/Goal

Tags: Real Madrid, IQ, UEFA Champions League

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Pep: Bayern Can't Play Defensive Against Barça, Must Attack

May 5, 2015 5:44 PM

While it may be pragmatic for Bayern Munich to be defensive in the first leg of their Champions League tie against Barcelona, Pep Guardiola said they will attack and try to score.

"It's almost impossible to play defensively against Barcelona," said Guardiola. "We have to attack. We need to score in Barcelona.

"There is no defensive system that can stop him. (Lionel) Messi is unstoppable. He is just too good. But we can try (and hope that) he does not come into (possession of) the ball."

Bayern will be without the likes of Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben, meaning they will be unable to get to Barcelona out wide with the same quality.

Robert Lewandowski is questionable with a fractured jaw and cheekbone.

RealGM Staff Report

Tags: Barcelona, Bayern Munich, UEFA Champions League

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Juventus Defeats Real Madrid 2-1 In 1st Leg Of UCL Tie

May 6, 2015 10:01 AM

Juventus defeated Real Madrid 2-1 on Tuesday in the first leg of their Champions League Semifinals tie in Turin.

With significant space to operate, Juventus began the match at a frenetic pace and had several promising opportunities before Alvaro Morata scored in the eighth minute. Morata tapped in the goal following a Carlos Tevez shot that was batted lightly by Iker Casillas.

It took Real Madrid another 15 minutes to settle in before James Rodriguez found Cristiano Ronaldo on a header in the 27th minute to level the match at 1-1. Real Madrid was patiently trying to unlock Juventus in the build-up and a somewhat innocuous series of possession suddenly gave James the space he needed to create an outstanding goal.

Real Madrid nearly scored a go-ahead goal in the final minutes of the first half when Isco set a cross from just inside the area on the left to James directly in front of goal. James somehow missed the back of the net and headed the ball off the crossbar in what was their best opportunity for a second goal. 

Juventus took the lead in the 56th minute when Real Madrid pushed forward for a corner that was headed out and triggered a 2 v. 2 counterattack featuring Morata and Tevez. Marcelo tripped up Morata as the ball was pushed forward to Tevez and he was tackled by Dani Carvajal for a penalty kick. Tevez beat Casillas easily to give Juve a 2-1 lead.

Arturo Vidal was brilliant throughout the match for Juventus, physically imposing his will upon the match.

Real Madrid had a few additional chances for a second goal, but were unable to break through as playing without Luka Modric and Karim Benzema has made Carlo Ancelotti's side look incoherent and less than the sum of their remaining superstar parts.

Christopher Reina/RealGM

Tags: Juventus, Real Madrid, UEFA Champions League

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Robert Lewandowski Has Good Chance Of Playing In First Leg

May 4, 2015 2:44 PM

Robert Lewandowski is working on returning from a broken jaw, broken nose and concussion suffered in last week's match against Borussia Dortmund.

Bayern Munich said last week they were "profoundly convinced" that Lewandowski would be available for the first leg of their semifinal at Barca on Wednesday, and the striker used his Twitter account on Sunday to say he was "ready for the next challenge."

Lewandowski missed training on Sunday, and Bayern sporting director Matthias Sammer has said he will only play at the Camp Nou if he is fully fit.

"The doctors will decide it, along with the player himself and also [how he feels when wearing] the mask, but one thing's for sure -- no player in the world can be so important that you'd put his health at stake," Sammer told reporters after the Leverkusen defeat."

Lewandowski returned to training on Monday.

Stephan Uersfeld/ESPN

Tags: Bayern Munich, Injury, UEFA Champions League

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