Replay the Berlin Final From the Pogba Appeal

What actually happened

Champions League final, 6 June 2015, minute 67: at 1–1, Dani Alves put a knee and an arm into Pogba inside the area and nothing was given. About a minute later Buffon parried Messi's shot and Suárez scored the rebound.

Italian reviews split — one called it a clear penalty, another saw mutual grappling and rated the referee excellent. Neymar had a goal correctly disallowed for handball soon after, then scored in stoppage time. Barcelona won 3–1.

Why it was disputed

Grappling in the box is the most tolerated contact in football, in both directions. Whether Alves's knee crossed the line from holding into a foul is the jury's question — and it came sixty seconds before the winner.

Review the real evidence and cast your verdict →

How the replay adapts it

You take Juventus from the 66th minute at 1–1, eight four-minute beats into stoppage time. History scores in the 68th and again in the 97th.

Score twice and it is 3–3 at the end: extra time, and then penalties, which the script settles the way the tribunal always settles them. Score three and you have rewritten a final.

Questions the court gets asked

Is this the real 2015 final?

A satirical adaptation of Juventus 1–3 Barcelona, from the Pogba appeal onward. Players are fictional stand-ins; the referee parodies the jury's verdict on the real incident.

What happens if it's level?

Extra time — two long beats — and if it is still level, penalties. Barcelona win those. The tribunal apologises to nobody.

Why does the clock run to 98?

Because Neymar's goal came in the 97th minute of the real final, and the script only scores where history did.