Juventus vs Barcelona 2015 Final: The Pogba Penalty Appeal a Minute Before Suárez

The final

Ivan Rakitić scored in the fourth minute, Juventus grew into the match, and Morata's equaliser in the 55th gave Massimiliano Allegri's side a quarter of an hour in which the final was genuinely open. The two decisive incidents came within seventy seconds of each other, at opposite ends of the same argument: an appeal refused, then a goal conceded.

The referee and the decision

Cüneyt Çakır was among the most experienced referees in Europe and had officiated at the 2014 World Cup. In the 67th minute Pogba received the ball inside the area with Dani Alves tight behind him; Alves's left knee went into Pogba's right thigh and his right arm came across him as Pogba tried to turn, and Pogba went down. Çakır, with an additional assistant behind the goal, gave nothing. From the next phase Messi ran at the Juventus defence, Buffon parried his shot, and Suárez scored.

Italian post-match reviews disagreed. SportMediaset called it 'a clear penalty for Juve' because of the knee before the arm; Eurosport Italy judged no penalty, describing mutual grappling, and rated Çakır's performance excellent. Patrice Evra, years later, called it 'a blatant penalty'. Dani Alves, asked by a fan in 2021, answered: 'No, he's falling on top of me.'

The decisions that went the other way

Two counterweights belong on this page. In the 35th minute Pogba went down under a Jordi Alba challenge at the edge of the area; the contact was outside and the no-penalty call was largely accepted. And a few minutes after Suárez's goal, Neymar headed in from Alba's cross and the goal was disallowed because the ball had come off his hand — a decision both Italian reviews judged correct, made with the help of the additional assistant referee. The final's officiating was not one-directional; the jury is asked about one minute of it.

The law as written in 2015

Law 12 in 2014/15 awarded a direct free kick, and a penalty in the area, for holding, pushing or a careless or reckless challenge. Grappling in the box was, and remains, the category in which referees exercised the most tolerance in both directions: mutual holding is routinely ignored, and a penalty is usually given only when one player's action clearly brings the other down. There was no VAR; the Champions League used additional assistant referees behind each goal, one of whom had a clear view of this incident and did not signal.

Cast your ruling

1. Exhibit AH

   The Final Penalty Juventus Never Got

   Vote on the Pogba appeal · 0 jurors

Play this controversy

This match is playable. Replay the Berlin Final From the Pogba Appeal — a free browser football game puts you in control as Juventus from the 66th minute, against a referee whose bias level was set by the jury’s verdict on this very incident.

Sources

• UEFA — Barcelona see off Juventus to claim fifth title (match report)
• ESPN — match report, Juventus 1–3 Barcelona
• SportMediaset — La moviola di Juventus–Barcellona
• Eurosport Italia — Juventus–Barcellona, la moviola
• Tuttosport — Dani Alves e Pogba: riscoppia la polemica (2021)

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