BERLIN — Luis Suarez and Neymar scored second-half goals to give Barcelona a 3-1 Champions League final victory over Juventus Saturday as the Spaniards became the first team to twice win the European treble. Luis Enrique capped his first season as Barcelona's head coach by matching Pep Guardiola's feat from the 2008/09 season when the Catalans captured the European, Spanish league and cup titles. An early goal by Barca's Ivan Rakitic was canceled out by Juventus' ex-Real Madrid striker Alvaro Morata, who equalized on 55 minutes. But Suarez put the game beyond the Italian champions with a 68th minute strike off a rebound at Berlin's Olympic Stadium. Neymar added the third with the last kick of the game in the 97th minute. Juventus suffered the indignation of becoming the first team to lose six European Cup finals, 30 years after winning the trophy for the first time amidst the tragedy of the Heysel Stadium disaster. This was the fifth time Barcelona has been crowned European champions and it is its fourth Champions League title in the last decade after their 2006, 2009 and 2011 triumphs. For Suarez it was a triumphant end to a first season with the Spanish champions after his ignominious biting ban at the World Cup. In 2009 Barcelona joined the elite club of treble winners that include Celtic, Ajax, PSV Eindhoven, Manchester United, Inter Milan and Bayern Munich. Now, they are the first to have done that twice. Despite brief moments of magic, Lionel Messi failed to become the first player to score in three Champions League finals as he equaled Dutch star Clarence Seedorf's tally of four winners' medals. Xavi Hernandez came on for his final game in the Barca shirt in the dying stages as he made history with a record 151st Champions League appearance before joining Qatari side Al-Sadd next season. “To leave this way is brutal,” said the Spain international, who lost his place in the starting side to Ivan Rakitic this season. Champions League final was the perfect antidote to the stench coming out of Zurich in the wake of the FIFA corruption scandal. Barca's dazzling attacking play and Juve's resilience, which kept it in the game until Neymar wrapped up the win in stoppage time, recalled the free-scoring early years of the competition in the 1950s and 1960s and provided a wonderful finale to the 60th season of UEFA's flagship club competition. It was a night that in the end belonged to Barcelona but, more importantly perhaps, helped restore the game's reputation after a calamitous two weeks in which it has been reeling from corruption allegations surrounding world governing body FIFA. — Agencies
