Imagine stepping into Cristiano Ronaldo’s boots, hearing tens of thousands of fans above you screaming for your club. To your left is Xabi Alonso giving a last minute pep-talk in Spanish, and to your right is the newest, and most expensive, player of your club. 

This is a special inside look of Real Madrid’s locker room moments before the 2014 Champions League Final in Lisbon.

The man likely to start in goal for Barcelona against Juventus in the Champions League final hasn’t even made his league debut for the Catalans yet.

Marc-Andre ter Stegen, a 23-year-old German brought in this year from Borussia Monchengladbach, the club he had played for since he was four years old, has started for Barcelona 19 times, including seven cup ties and 12 Champions League matches.

Thanks to some rule-change trickery, Real Madrid will not be among the top eight seeds in the Champions League next year. 

The top seeds, announced by UEFA, are Barcelona, Paris-Saint Germain, Chelsea, Juventus, Zenit Saint Petersburg, Bayern Munich, PSV Eindhoven and Benfica.

The final in Berlin has been set for Serie A giants Juventus and Catalan super-power Barcelona. Juventus overcame Barcelona’s biggest rivals, Real Madrid, in Spain after winning on a 5-3 aggregate score. They proved to the world they will not be silenced and will do whatever it takes to secure another trophy during the 2014/15 season. The four semi-final games and thirteen goals that decided the final gave us some incredible moments that are worth a second look.

If you thought that the biggest storyline heading into the Champions League Final featuring Barcelona and Juventus was the treble in the balance for both teams, you are right, but also missing one of the juiciest subplots of the game. For the first time since 2014, Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra will share the field. 

Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has made no attempt to hide that he would love to play Real Madrid in a Champions League Final Clasico. Pique has faced Real Madrid many times, and thinks that playing out another chapter in Barcelona and Real Madrid’s epic rivalry on the biggest stage in club soccer would be the game of a lifetime. 

If you ask a Chelsea supporter to list the characteristics of John George Terry, you’ll likely hear phrases such as “inspirational leader,” “home-grown talent,” “captain fantastic” and the “heart and soul of Chelsea”.

Juventus fans got a huge boost yesterday as news broke from La Gazzetta dello Sport that midfielder Paul Pogba will start against Real Madrid in the second leg of the Champions League Semifinals on Wednesday. 

I can’t stop watching this goal. I know a lot of goals are called the “Best of the Year” or “Century” or “of all Time,” but…this is the goal of the year. The player who scored it, the defender that got embarrassed as it was scored, the keeper it was scored on: all the greatest in the world, on the biggest stage, from two of the top three teams on the planet. And all of that context still pales in comparison to the simple beauty of it. 

The discourse between Bayern Munich and Barcelona ahead of their much hyped Champions League Semifinal has not exactly crossed into a war of words, but it has definitely not been lacking for material.