UEFA Champions League: Lionel Messi inspires FC Barcelona to win vs 10-man Juventus

FC Barcelona were boosted by goals from Ousmane Dembele and Lionel Messi as they maintained their perfect start to the UEFA Champions League with a 2-0 win against a Juventus side that were missing the services of Cristiano Ronaldo due to the coronavirus. Before the game, Cristiano Ronaldo had posted on social media that he was healthy and fine but Juventus manager Andre Pirlo did not pick him in the squad. This would have been a dream rematch between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, which would have been a first between the two football superstars since 2018 but sadly it was not meant to be.

Barcelona made a very fast start, with three big chances in less than two minutes and a lot of intensity and hunger to recover the ball. But they also had to deal with an intense and hungry Juventus team that pressed very high looking to force mistakes at the back. The deadlock was broken in the 14^th minute when Dembele scored a magnificent goal to put Barcelona ahead.

Barcelona maintained the attack and kept majority of the possession. As the second half progressed, Lionel Messi, Pedri and Antoine Griezmann all had big chances to score but couldn’t. In the 85^th minute, Juventus were down to 10 men when Demiral was given a red card and Barcelona pounced on it, with Messi scoring a goal from the penalty spot in the 90^th minute to give FC Barcelona victory.

Bartomeu goes

The win for FC Barcelona comes at a time when the club’s president Josep Maria Bartomeu resigned in the wake of the feud with Lionel Messi. On Wednesday, Bartomeu and the entire board stepped down from their posts as well.

"I am here today to inform you of my resignation and that of the rest of the Board of Directors. This is a well-considered, calm, consensual and collective decision by my fellow directors who have accompanied me over recent years in a loyal and committed fashion with regards to the project and the Club, and who have made so many sacrifices thinking always of Barca," the club's official website quoted Bartomeu as saying.

"This morning, as you well know, I received a reply from the Catalan Government to the letter that we sent yesterday. Their reply was clear. I will read the text: 'We inform you that the Catalan Government, represented by members from the Presidential, Interior and Health Departments, reiterate that there is no legal or sanitary impediment for the holding of the Vote of Censure, as long as they include, in the organisational protocol of the aforementioned vote of censure, the requirements that the PROCICAT technical group presented to FC Barcelona in the meeting which took place on 21 October.' That means a decentralised vote," he added.