The referee blows. Full time: Real Madrid 1 – Juventus 1.
With a Clasico final in the offing, Real Madrid went all out for a victory. Missing out would’ve hurt, but they’ve gotten quite used to these wounds over the last 13 years, when their dominance of the Champions League ended. A few individual awards and a couple of marquee signings would go a long way in healing them. They’ll challenge again next season.
The significance of this tie for the other team couldn’t have differed more. Juventus have once had players like Platini, Laudrup, Deschamps, Baggio and Zidane donning their colors. They were among a few elite glamour clubs in Europe. Were, being the operative word. Serie A was the ‘in-thing’ back then. The world’s best were here and everyone else wanted to. Their status as one of the ‘big’ leagues has since waned. Part of it was due to the economic situation in the country, which led to so many clubs not making enough revenue. The best players were let go and teams that used to be powerhouses are now meek opponents to a half-decent side. Nothing highlights this more than the rumors around a young Frenchman at Juve becoming a certain departee from the club because he’s playing really well. A far cry from the days when good, really good players would give anything to turn up once at the Stadio Delle Alpi.
Juventus needed and wanted this success a lot more. The last time they this deep into the Champions League was 13 years back. They were playing to empty stands in the Serie B nine years back. The Calciopoli scandal in 2006 had wreaked havoc at the club, which sent the Old Lady of Turin to the second division and docked 9 points. This led to household names like Ibrahimovic, Fabio Cannavaro, Gianluca Zambrotta and Lillian Thurram leaving. The club were extremely fortunate to have absolute greats like Buffon, Del Piero, Pavel Nedved among others possess the gravitas to stay and help their beloved club back to where they belong. It was an almost-unheard-of stance in an era where a few extra thousand dollars a week is an extremely effective transfer catalyst.