Juventus vs. Barcelona score: Ronaldo bests Messi, but Weston McKennie steals show in group-clinching win

weston-mckennie.png
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Juventus got their revenge against Barcelona on Tuesday with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring twice from penalty kicks in a convincing 3-0 victory that sees the Italian club top Champions League Group G. American Weston McKennie got his first UCL goal for the club, finishing an astonishing mid-air volley and sending Barcelona into second place ahead of the round of 16 draw.

Barca needed to avoid a big defeat to win the group but instead laid an egg with defensive woes taking center stage.

Juve got the first from a penalty kick just 13 minutes in before McKennie scored in the 20th minute with the best goal of his young career. Ronaldo added another penalty in the second half to complete the dominant scoreline.

FINAL: Barcelona 0, Juventus 3

⚽ Juventus: Ronaldo (13' - penalty)
⚽ Juventus: Weston McKennie (18')
⚽ Juventus: Ronaldo (52' - penalty)

Goal of the competition?

Just days after getting his first Juve goal in the derby against Torino, McKennie was back at it again with the greatest goal of his young career. Check out how he does so well to get the ball out to Juan Cuadrado and keeps moving into space:

It was our golazo of the day, and it's simply superb. Over the last couple games, Andrea Pirlo is getting a look at what McKennie can do in attack. This match saw McKennie drift out right to the right early, move more centrally as the game got on and produce what will end up being a memorable showing. 

McKennie had 35 touches, was the second most threatening player after Ronaldo with an xG of 0.44 and completed 88.5 percent of his passes. 

Barca, Messi show next to nothing

That poor La Liga form finally carried over to UCL. Ronald Koeman's team was predictable in attack, didn't threaten all that much and put just seven of their 20 shots on target. Barca are a team too reliant on Messi. He had 11 shots and some decent looks with an xG of 0.59, but nobody else came close to looking like a scoring threat. While Barca were expected to score, their average shot distance came from beyond the 18-yard box. In other words, they couldn't break down the central defense of Juve and create better looking opportunities on goal. 

A big blow to Barca's already slim title hopes

Barca aren't contenders to begin with. They are too inconsistent. But now you have to wonder if they will even make it past the round of 16 after this. Barca's loss sees them enter the draw as a group runner-up, meaning they can now end up drawing Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Dortmund, among others. They would be underdogs in all of them. Had they won, they could have a more manageable path against the likes of Lazio and Porto, among others. Of course, the draw could go their way, but it's clear that they are more likely to face a much tougher opponent in the next round as a result of this lackluster performance.

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