The long-awaited matchup between Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus FC and Lionel Messi’s FC Barcelona finally took place on Tuesday night at Camp Nou, ending in a 3-0 romp for the Italian powerhouse.
Ronaldo and Messi, who had not faced each other in a match since the former left Real Madrid for Juventus two summers ago, faced off in the final game of the group stage of this year’s Champions League. This took place after both teams had already clinched a spot in the knockout round.
Barcelona won the first game at Juventus by a 2-0 final with Ronaldo out due to a positive COVID-19 test.
It was all about Juventus as the more cohesive, more experienced team took apart a Barcelona squad which looks to be in crisis under new manager Ronald Koeman.
Juve took an early 1-0 lead from a whistled penalty, after Cristiano Ronaldo had gotten fouled. Ronaldo calmly converted the kick, giving his team the advantage.
Just seven minutes later, Weston McKennie got in on the action as he knocked a cross in from Juan Cuadrado to double Juventus’s lead, making it 2-0.
After the half, try as Barca might, they were unable to make any progress. Any hopes of a comeback were slashed when a Clement Lenglet handball led to another Juve penalty, which Cristiano slotted in for his second score of the night.
The game finished 3-0, with Juventus claiming first place in Group G and Barcelona set to wonder what they must do in order to right their sinking ship.
