Uefa Champions League: UAE-based Juventus fans revel in victory

Dubai: Champions League fever descended on Dubai on Wednesday night as UAE-based fans of Real Madrid and Juventus cheered their teams on during the semi-final second leg match at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Ultimately it was the Juventus faithful who rejoiced at the final whistle, as a 1-1 draw was enough to see them through to the final to face Barcelona after Alvaro Morata returned to haunt his former club.

At Golositalia in Jumeirah Lakes Towers, euphoric celebrations fans lasted late into the night, with club jerseys, black and white scarves and chants filling the scene.

Juve fan Sabastiano Maio found it difficult to express his delight in words. “I am too emotional to speak,” he told Gulf News. “It was only eight years ago that we were in the second division [Serie B]. And now we are in the Champions League final for the first time since 2003, when we lost to Milan.

“We never expected this as the beginning of the season so I will be thankful to my team no matter what happens against Barcelona. It’s going to amazing just to be there and breathe that air again. It’s incredible to think that we beat last year’s champions in the semi-final.”

Davide Ilardi could not hide his excitement. “After 12 years Juventus is finally in the final. It’s a great moment for Italian football,” he said.

Ilardi was confident they would play to their strengths to down another Spanish giant. “Barcelona has a stellar attack but not the greatest defence as we saw last night [Tuesday]. The strongest team is the one that defends the best, not scores the most.” Lucio Conti remained positive about how his club will fare at Berlin’s Olympiastadion on June 6. “It feels very good to be in the final. We will win,” he said.

Emotions were different at McGettigan’s, where Alvaro Martinez, like many other Real Madrid supporters, was left disappointed. “The team isn’t playing well and I thought we looked very tired,” he said.

“I thought Real Madrid was going to win this leg but they were not at their best,” added Mohammad Gassani.

Eleftherios Gerouliakos lamented on what could have been, saying: “We played well in the first half, but needed to score in the second. It would have felt good to play against Barcelona in the final. We couldn’t win La Liga so we could have had a chance to beat them for the Champions League.”

The high-profile tie attracted fans of other clubs as well, particularly Barcelona followers who were present to scout their final opponents.

Mario Opazo, a Barca fan, said: “I was hoping that Juventus would win, but it doesn’t really matter who we have to play because we’ll win anyway!” Romulo Perez, also a Blaugrana supporter, was upbeat about their chances despite Juventus’ impressive showing against their Spanish rivals. “Barcelona will definitely win the final. It’s going to be exciting. Messi will score the winning goal,” he said.

— The writer is an intern at Gulf News