Champions League: Barcelona defeat Juventus to claim European crown
(CNN)Barcelona became kings of Europe for a fifth time Saturday with a deserved 3-1 Champions League final victory over Juventus in Berlin. Ivan Rakitic opened the scoring early on for the Catalans before Alvaro Morata drew Juve level at the start of the second half. But parity didn't last long as Luis Suarez restored Barcelona's lead a little over 10 minutes later. Neymar then added a third in injury time to ensure European football's biggest prize would return to Spain for a second year running. The triumph followed Spanish league and cup wins and marked a dramatic turnaround in fortunes for Barca coach Luis Enrique whose job was on the line as recently as January until an inauspicious run of results was righted. It was a change in form that had much to do with the irrepressible attacking trident of Neymar, Suarez and Lionel Messi. And as the European season reached its climax Saturday, their fluidity and potency was just too much for an experienced Juve side appearing in its first final since losing to AC Milan in 2003. Needless to say, much has changed for Juventus since that night in Manchester 12 years ago. The Old Lady of Italian football has suffered humiliation, enforced relegation and the stripping of Italian league titles as punishment for its involvement in the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal. Only goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has remained from the 2003 final and through the club's battle back to Europe's top table. More potently, however, Saturday's match was taking place 30 years after Juve claimed its first European Cup, a title won under the shadow of tragedy at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels. That night in 1985 Michel Platini -- who attended Saturday's fixture in his current role as the head of European football's governing body UEFA -- scored the only goal of the game as the Bianconeri defeated Liverpool 1-0. But tragedy was unfolding in the stands as 39 fans died in a stampede compounded by a dilapidated stadium, poor ticketing arrangements and "negligent policing." Juve defender Leonardo Bonucci spoke before the game of wanting to win to honor the victims of Heysel. And perhaps spurred on by this desire, the Italians started the more aggressive of the two sides. Patrice Evra snapped into Dani Alves within seconds of kick off. Moments later, Carlos Tevez fired over from the edge of the area with Barca looking uncharacteristically tense. The nerves didn't last long. Within minutes Barca was ahead. Neymar fed Andres Iniesta, who was bursting into the Juve area from deep. He then squared the ball to Ivan Rakitic to perform the simple task of knocking the ball beyond the diving Buffon.