08 August 2021
Barcelona ran out Gamper Trophy winners on Sunday evening after beating Juventus 3- 0 at the Estadi Johan Cruyff courtesy of goals from Memphis Depay, Martin Braithwaite, and Riqui Puig.
It wasn’t the start the team would have hoped for as they found themselves a goal down inside the third minute of action: Memphis Depay found himself unmarked and with tons of space around him, he burst down the middle in full speed and slotted the ball past Szczesny. Cristiano Ronaldo came close to pulling one back when he forced a save from Neto at the near post with an angled drive, following a great pass from Alvaro Morata. Barca had the ball in the back of the net in the 21st minute, but it didn’t stand due to an offside on Griezmann. Szczesny made a great reflex save with his foot to deny Demir.
The opening half was a bit of a cagey affair between the two teams, with both sides putting upping their physical play. De Ligt and Morata both forced great saves from Neto in the 38th minute, while the half ended with a ferocious Morata shot from Cuadrado’s cross that was parried away.
Into the second half and it was Juve who were the first to threaten, through Chiesa’s shot that forced Neto to push it out wide. However, it was the hosts that landed up rattling the back of the net first when Braithwaite got onto the end of a corner kick and nodded it home. Griezmann saw his free-kick smack Bonucci in the face with the rebounded ball into the path of Depay, who blasted it wide of goal. The rhythm of the game drifted off somewhat, but it was the home side that would snatch the final goal, two minutes in stoppage time, with a stunning strike on the edge of the box by Puig, who curled the ball into the top corner of Perin’s goal to see the game end 3-0.
Juventus XI: Szczesny; De Sciglio, de Ligt, Rugani, Alex Sandro; Bentancur, Ramsey, Bernardeschi; Cuadrado, Morata, Cristiano Ronaldo.
Subs: Pinsoglio, Perin, Chiellini, Danilo, Pellegrini, Bonucci, De Winter, McKennie, Chiesa, Ranocchia, Kulusevski, Marques.
