On another night, Alvaro Morata could have been a happy man indeed. As it was, the Juventus striker was left frustrated as he saw three goals ruled out for offside in the defeat to Barcelona.
Andrea Pirlo's side hosted the LaLiga giants in a crunch Group G clash in the Champions League on Wednesday, with both sides looking to stamp their authority on the group.
But it was Ronald Koeman's side that came out on top, with goals from Ousmane Dembele and Lionel Messi enough to earn the visitors a confidence-boosting win in Turin.
The Italian champions were made to look second best throughout, with a late red card for Merih Demiral and a spot kick against Federico Bernardeschi piling more misery on the Old Lady.
And for Morata, it was a night where the former Chelsea and Real Madrid star could feasibly have walked away with the match ball, had the Spaniard just timed his runs better.
Just one minute after Dembele opened the scoring for Barcelona, Morata had the ball in the net after slotting home with the second bite of the cherry.
However, the linesman's flag was up for offside, with the 28-year-old ahead of the last man when Juan Cuadrado played the decisive through ball.
Then, on the half hour mark, Morata had the ball beyond Neto but the linesman's flag was up once more, with the Spaniard straying offside when Cuadrado delivered a teasing ball into the box.
Cuadrado turned provided once more in the second half as the Colombian hooked the ball back across the face of goal and Morata hammered home.
The Spaniard turned to the linesman, expecting the flag to be raised. But when the official determined that Morata had been in an onside position, the striker was visibly relieved that he had finally drawn his side level.
However, VAR intervened and found that, yet again, Morata had strayed offside when Cuadrado played the ball in, meaning his goal was chalked off for a third time.
Barcelona's win comes as a huge boost for Koeman's side, who have endured a mixed start to the 2020-21 campaign. Wednesday night's triumph puts Messi & Co at the summit of Group G, ahead of Juve, Dynamo Kiev and Ferencvaros TM.
JazzyJeff246
460
Barca fans will be going crazy over this win and think that they can win champions league but the truth is they are lucky they won that game.
Austin1000
434
WHY DOES AF DO THIS ALL THE TIME,, MORATA IS NOT FLOP, NOT CHELSEA NOT REAL, NOT IN ATLETICO,,HE IS ALWAYS DANGEROUS INFRONT OF GOALS, AF, SHOW SOME RESPECT PLEASE 💔
DominiqueWaire
148
AF calls moratta as chelsea flop....have some manners whoever wrote this article should check his facts right he belongs to atleti ......
WestHamBro
77
BarVARlona
GJGREGJO
14
Barca fans will be going crazy over this win and think that they can win champions league but the truth is they are lucky they won that game.
Lucky? Juve was lucky the scoreline should have gone 5... Go and watch games buddy before commenting after reading only AF newses
Usmank6144
11
I watched the game and got you information if VAR did not exist about two of those goals would stand. They would not have been overturned. You go watch that match again. Messi was even misfiring too. If you tell me you are satisfied with Barcelona performance you don’t know about football.
You see your a cr7 fan and your butthurt to see his team lose. That’s the answer. You don’t care about Barca you just wanna use this as an excuse to criticize us. We were the better team simple as that. They didn’t creat enough chances against us. You say if var wasn’t there the goals would’ve stood. Why would offside goals stand huh? Than you would’ve just won unfairly. Only in the UCL is where var is used fairly this isn’t the serie a. Var won’t favor you in the UCL get used to it.
Nueaopuz
11
VARcelona sounds better 🥴😵
Tell me one of the goals that was on side. Just name 1.
Usmank6144
9
Get back to best? Barcelona will never get back to there best. Best Barcelona is long gone from the days of Pep. Keep in touch lad because it’s a long season and when Barcelona is embarrassed again in the champions league I will be there to say I told u so
Dude you have an agenda against Barca. That’s for sure. You’re definitely upset by our win today. Your just crying because we won today. Simple as that. Get over it. We never said we’ll go all the way. We’re far from that. But to see someone this upset because we won today? You shopworn watch football. Your a disgrace to the sport.
Usmank6144
8
Dude my team won it does not matter if Juventus lose. At the end of the day. Barcelona and Juventus will make it out of this group but you just wait until the return fixture or until you go to round of 16. You will see who is but hurt. No one fears Barcelona anymore
My team won lol you lost 2-0 I think you’re lost in your own delusions. You think you’ll beat us at camp boy? We haven’t lost at home for 7 years what makes you think you can beat us?
SkullSwagger
8
VARcelona sounds better 🥴😵
all of them were legit offside
SINGAM23
8
Morata brought the No.3 Chelsea sponsor shirt memories to Turin causing 3 offsides last night !!