Barcelona need another miracle to advance to the semifinal of the UEFA Champions League after suffering a heavy 3-0 loss to Juventus in the first leg of their quarter-final on Tuesday night.
The Catalan giants had rewrote history when they thrashed Paris St-Germain 6-1 to overturn a 4-0 deficit in the last-16 of the competition and will have to churn out a similar performance at the Nou Camp next Wednesday after another dismal away show.
The home team began the proceedings in a dominant manner and deservedly got ahead in the seventh minute when Paulo Dybala curled a fine effort into the bottom corner from a Juan Cuadrado pass. Barcelona soon began to find their feet in the tie and had the chance to equalise after 20 minutes but Andres Iniesta’s effort was kept out by the excellent Gianluigi Buffon. The visitors had to pay a hefty price for squandering that chance as Juventus doubled their lead just a minute later. Dybala was the scorer again as he found the back of the net from a Mario Mandzukic cross.
Barcelona had the ball in the Juventus net when Lionel Messi played a one-two with Luis Suarez and going on to score before the break but the goal was correctly ruled out for offside.
Luis Enrique’s men began brightly after the restart with Messi going close but the home team put the game to the bed when Giorgio Chiellini headed home from a corner after Gonzalo Higuain missed a brilliant opportunity. Barcelona kept on pressing for the precious away goal but Massimiliano Allegri’s men held on to maintain their 3-goal advantage.
Here is how Twitter reacted to the match:
https://twitter.com/iamaneke/status/851900332737220608
Juventus-Barcelona 3-0 FT.Probably the greatest JUV European game in last 14 years, while BAR were punished by their lack of humbleness
— Tancredi Palmeri (@tancredipalmeri) April 11, 2017
https://twitter.com/MessiLob/status/851897336796250114
Looking at this Juve side, there's little doubt that Paul Pogba has taken a big step backwards in his career. #JuveFCB
— Yann Tear (@YTJourno) April 11, 2017
This match once again reaffirms the big game bottler that is higuain ! #JuveFCB
— Rovie (@RowanCyril) April 12, 2017
https://twitter.com/MoRosement/status/851924538808053761
Paul Pogba must be seriously regretting life decisions right now. #JuveFCB
— Stephen Trappe (@TRAPPE11) April 11, 2017
Taking off Mathieu and bringing on Gomes is like quitting alcohol only to start drinking acid #JuveFCB Barca #champions Dybala
— Kwesi T. (@4CescF) April 11, 2017
This isn't PSG, this is Juventus their defence is the great wall of China ?. I can't see Barca overcoming this deficit #JuveFCB
— Ali S (@RoyMustang786) April 11, 2017
https://twitter.com/Kdp_11/status/851914595400855552
Starting Jeremy Mathieu vs Juventus in the UCL, marking Cuadrado, pretty much sums up Luis Enrique's tactics #Barca #JuveFCB
— Elias (@eliasbuckleyyy) April 11, 2017
https://twitter.com/CherguiaMbarak/status/851898169101357056