With the Scudetto clinched weeks before the end of the season, we've been thinking of this day for nearly a month. There were other games in between Juventus' last Spanish opponent in the Champions League and their next. Luckily for us, one of those games, the Coppa Italia final against Lazio, actually mattered and means Juventus' first season under Max Allegri will end with a domestic double at the very worst.
But when the final whistle blows, either Juventus or Barcelona will jump back to their home country as treble winners.
Match Preview
They've taken different kinds of paths to get to this point. Barcelona have beaten league champions after league champion; Juventus has beaten the European champion while also doing a couple of tight-rope walks to even have the chance to advance in the tournament.
It's been ... interesting. The good kind of interesting, I might add. Yet at the same time, it's been totally enjoyable and made all of those second halves full of anxiety and gut-wrenching moments totally worth it.
Have Juventus faced a team like Barcelona this season? No, of course not. There's a reason why sooooo many people are basically handing Barcelona the trophy right now. And there's a reason why some folks are tipping the MSN trident to be one of the greatest collections of strikers EVER. E-V-E-R. Their goal-scoring totals are crazy to think about; even crazier once you actually see the quality of goals they put away, too.
This is the test of all tests. A team that everybody is tipping to win against the underdog that wasn't even supposed to be here.
This is Juventus vs. Barcelona for the Champions League trophy with ears the size of Berlin itself.
Two teams enter as winners of domestic doubles, one team leaves with a historic treble as they dance in a mess of confetti on the Olympiastadion field. Simple as that, right?
Lineups for both Juventus and Barcelona for the Champions League final (!!!!) will be posted RIGHT HERE when they become available. Let there be fun, and more Juventus goals than Barcelona goals. I think that would totally be cool with me. But I'm just a guy on the internet who likes the team playing in black and white tonight.
UPDATE: LINEUPS ARE IN!
Juventus XI (4-3-1-2): Gianluigi Buffon; Stephan Lichtsteiner, Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci, Patrice Evra; Claudo Marchisio, Andrea Pirlo, Paul Pogba; Arturo Vidal, Carlos Tévez, Álvaro Morata
Juventus bench: Marco Storari, Angelo Ogbonna, Simone Padoin, Stefano Sturaro, Roberto Pereyra, Kingsley Coman, Fernando Llorente
Barcelona XI (4-3-3): Marc-André ter Stegen; Dani Alves, Gerard Pique, Javier Mascherano, Jordi Alba; Ivan Rakitic, Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta; Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Neymar
Barcelona bench: Claudio Bravo, Marc Bartra, Jérémy Mathieu, Adriano Correia, Xavi Hernández, Rafinha Alcântara, Pedro Rodríguez