Juventus 0-2 FC Barcelona: Two out of two

An incredibly fast start from Barça at Allianz Stadium saw Miralem Pjanić go close and Antoine Griezmann hit the woodwork before two minutes had been played. An open, attacking game from the first whistle meant that the action consistently swung from one end to the other.

On 13 minutes, a cross-field pass by Lionel Messi found Ousmane Dembélé in space, and the Frenchman, via the aid of a deflection, found the top corner of the Juve net to hand Barça the lead. Álvaro Morata thought he had equalised for the hosts in the next attack but it was ruled out for handball, the Spaniard also offside in the build-up.

Tempo

Some wonderful interplay between Griezmann and Messi almost saw the blaugranes extend their lead on 22, the Argentinian pulling his shot just wide of the upright. The tempo didn’t let up for a moment with both sides looking to play a sharp passing game at every opportunity.

Just before the half-hour, a fine finish from Morata was again chalked off for offside before Alba and Dembélé both went close at the other end. As the half was brought to a close, the status quo remained, both in terms of the score and the way in which either side were approaching their work.

Initiative

The pattern continued at the start of the second half as Barça took the initiative once more. Against the run of play, Morata was alert to the possibilities on 54 and appeared to have fired Juventus level, only for VAR to overrule the decision for another offside.

Some tight control from Pedri then began to open up the Juve defence as the visitors looked to push home their advantage, and a delicious piece of skill from the youngster led to the ball being worked to Messi who fired just wide.

Superb

With 15 to play, Antoine Griezmann’s low shot grazed the outside of the post as Barça carved open the bianconeri back line once more. Juve were reduced to counter-attacking by this time, particularly after the late sending off of Merih Demiral.

In the final minute of normal time, Ansu Fati was bundled over in the area by substitute Bernadeschi and with Messi dispatching the subsequent spot-kick, it put a much fairer reflection on the score line in what was a superb away performance and Barça’s first ever win at Juventus.