Dybala stars as Juventus outclass Barcelona

Sport360 staff 00:43 12/04/2017

Paulo Dybala struck two brilliant goals in a stunning first half and Giorgio Chiellini added a rare third after the break as the hosts claimed a commanding advantage ahead of next week’s second leg.

Dismal Barcelona’s only hope is to repeat their feat of the previous round, when they recovered from a 4-0 first-leg loss to Paris St Germain by beating the French side 6-1 at home. But on the evidence of Tuesday night a second comeback looks highly unlikely.

The home side hared out from the first whistle and had their first chance after less than three minutes when Gonzalo Higuain wasted a good chance in front of Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen. Luis Enrique’s men, smarting from a domestic defeat to Malaga at the weekend, were overwhelmed by the early onslaught and they fell behind with just seven minutes on the clock.

The superb Juan Cuadrado found Dybala on the right side of the box and the striker curled an excellent left-foot shot past the helpless keeper.

Barcelona responded well and could have grabbed an equaliser after 20 minutes when Lionel Messi threaded the ball to Andres Iniesta whose low shot was well saved by Gianluigi Buffon.

Moments later, Juventus surged down the left flank and Mario Mandzukic crossed for the unmarked Dybala, who fired his second of the game past ter Stegen to put the Italians 2-0 up.

Barcelona started the second half in much better fashion with Messi rolling an effort inches wide of the upright and Buffon just beating Luis Suarez to an Ivan Rakitic through-ball.

Higuain rolled a weak effort at ter Stegen before Chiellini made it 3-0 after 55 minutes, out-jumping Javier Mascherano to head home only the second Champions League goal of his career.

Knowing a precious away goal could still help turn the tie in their favour, Barcelona began to press with Suarez trickling a fine chance wide then Neymar seeing an effort blocked by the busy Chiellini in the box.

Marshalled by a towering performance by Brazilian Alex Santos, the Juventus defence held out and Messi’s last chance to reduce the deficit came to an end when he spun a free-kick into the Italians’ wall.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

Paulo Dybala’s opening goal was the result of a brilliant finish, and made sure Juventus did not waste their early advantage.

Coupled with his second goal, which was equally brilliant, Dybala’s performance had observers wondering if Argentina’s “Crown Prince” was dethroning Lionel Messi, the king of Argentinian football for so long.

BEST GOAL

See above. Dybala’s first goal of the night is worth watching over and over again. That finish, from that angle…the 23-year-old showed just why he’s thought of as the next big thing in Argentina.

BEST TWEET

BEST STAT

MAN OF THE MATCH

Dybala. Gigi Buffon pulled off a couple of outstanding saves, but Juventus’ Argentinian wizard deserves all the plaudits – not least because he did it while outshining Barcelona’s own Argentinian wizard. Lionel Messi was definitely the second-best player from his country in this game, and by a wide margin.

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