'FIFA 20' Champions League simulation: Barcelona, Messi vs. Ronaldo, Juventus in final

Here's how the season played out with 'FIFA 20'

By Roger Gonzalez

Apr 9, 2020 at 10:14 am ET • 1 min read

The Champions League's 2019-20 season is far from over, but with the coronavirus pandemic suspending pretty much every competition in the world, who knows when this tournament will conclude? Aiming to be finished by the summer, there is still the entire quarterfinal, semifinal and final rounds to be played while some round of 16 matches still remain.

But why wait to see who wins this competition when we can just simulate it? We ran a simulation of the entire tournament (from scratch) on "FIFA 20." All of the teams that made the round of 16 in the real tournament are into the round of 16 here. Below you'll find the results of the knockout stage and the big final, which for the first time sees Lionel Messi face Cristiano Ronaldo for the top club prize in Europe.

Note: Juventus is not officially licensed in the video game and appears as Piemonte Calcio. For story purposes, we'll refer to them as Juventus in this piece.

Here's how the knockout stage turned out with the final outcome below.

Round of 16

Aggregate scores

Bayern 4, Chelsea 0
Atletico Madrid 4, Liverpool 2
Juventus 6, Tottenham 1
Barcelona 4, Napoli 0
PSG 5, Dortmund 1
Atalanta 4, Lyon 1
Manchester City 2, Real Madrid 0
RB Leipzig 3, Valencia 0

Quarterfinals

Aggregate scores

Bayern Munich 3, Atalanta 0
Manchester City 2, RB Leipzig 1
Barcelona 2, Atletico Madrid 1
Juventus 3, PSG 1

Semifinals

Aggregate scores

Barcelona 2, Bayern Munich 1
Juventus 2, Manchester City 1

Final: Barcelona vs. Juventus

Here's the starting XI for both squads if the final were to still take place at Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Turkey:

Messi, Luis Suarez and Antoine Griezmann start in attack FIFA 20 screenshot

Starting XI for Juve

It's Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuain up top with Paulo Dybala tucked behind. FIFA 20 screenshot

Regulation and extra time summary

It was a bit of a chess match where Barcelona dominated possession but Juve managed to hold on. Barca had a fine chance only five minutes in when Frenkie de Jong played Messi into the box, but his powerful effort was stopped well at the front post. Juve defended strong but failed to produce a shot on target. Lionel Messi picked up a knock and had to be substituted off, boosting Juve's chances.

Neither team could find a goal, as regulation ended 0-0 and as did extra time. It would come down to penalty kicks to decide it.

Penalty takers

Barca: