News broke on Tuesday evening that incumbent Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu and his entire board had resigned as president, sparking scenes of jubilation throughout the club’s fanbase.
The highly unpopular 57-year-old’s exit most likely helped all Cules get over the 3-1 loss to Real Madrid in El Clasico, as has last night’s performance away at Juventus.
Barca beat the Bianconeri 2-0 for the first time ever away from home in Turin and it was yet another masterclass in the Champions League by their talisman Lionel Messi.
The Argentine superstar’s stunning cross-field pass helped setup Ousmane Dembele’s opening goal and the 33-year-old sealed victory with a goal of his own from the penalty spot, deceiving the Juventus goalie into diving the other way.
Messi racked up a brilliant performance as he completed more take-ons (6) and created more chances (5) than any other player on the pitch. All that notwithstanding, he also produced one of the best Cruyff turns to be seen in 2020.
The Juventus defenders had nary a chance as Messi’s performance was so good that it even prompted a spectacular reaction from Italian legend Christian Vieri inside the Allianz Stadium.
“An amazing Barcelona, there was no game. They could’ve scored six, seven goals easy. They played fantastic,” the former Juve striker told CBS Sports.
“Messi is a magician, he’s the Harry Potter of soccer and when he stops playing, I’m throwing my TVs away. I’m not going to work no more on TV, I’m going to watch Netflix, that’s it, because when he stops there’s nothing else to watch.”
Speaking on Barca’s performance as a whole, Vieri added: “It’s just another football, another game.
“I don’t know how they lost against Real Madrid, but if you see them [vs Juventus] you’re going to say they can’t lose against anyone this year, it’s impossible the way they played.
“Every game is different but the Barcelona I saw and everyone saw it’s just incredible. When you’ve got a number 10 like that, it’s just crazy.
“It’s a pity there are no fans here because the fans should be seeing a team like this.”