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Juventus take on Barcelona in the final of the Champions League tonight, and will look to seal their first ever treble with a win over the Catalans. Barcelona, on the other hand, would want to win their second treble, and become the first team to do so in the process.
As we build up to the biggest match of the season, let us look at the 8 players who have represented both these European powerhouses:
Martin Caceres
The Uruguayan would have been in the Juventus squad for today had he not suffered an ankle injury. He was signed by Barcelona from Villareal and was part of their treble-winning squad of 2009.
As he did not get enough game time, he was loaned to Juventus and then Sevilla, who made the deal permanent. A year later, in 2012, he moved back to Juventus, where he was been ever since. He made only 13 appearances during his Barcelona time.
Juan Pablo Sorin
The Argentine was signed by Juventus after impressing during the FIFA World Youth Championship in 1995. However, he couldn’t make much of an impact as he was not deemed ready enough to start for the senior team due to which moved back to Argentina. He went to Barcelona on a loan move during the 2002/03 season and managed to make 15 appearances, but he moved on after 6 months.
Michael Laudrup
He was the first player to play to have played for the sides. The attacking midfielder has 102 appearances with Juventus and has scored 16 goals. But he was in a Juventus line up that consisted of greats like Platini, Rossi and Boniek, consequently he could nail down a place in the starting line-up and finally moved to Barcelona in 1989.
It was there that he became one of the best players of his time. He won 4 league titles , 1 European Cup and 1 Spanish Cup with the Catalans. However, he did the unthinkable by moving to arch-rivals Real Madrid at the end of his spell with the Blaugrana.
Edgar Davids
The Dutch midfielder spent seven successful seasons in Italy where he made 159 appearances and helped them win 3 league titles and reached the Champions League final twice. The Juve coach at the time, Marcelo Lippi used to called Davids as his ‘One man engine room’.
He made a loan move to Barcelona during the 2003-04 season and helped Frank Rijkaard in rebuilding the Barcelona team who were struggling at the time, as they eventually finished 2nd in the La Liga.
Lilian Thuram
The French defender moved to Juventus from Parma in 2001. Thuram was part of what was considered to be one of the best Italian club defenses ever with the likes of Cannavaro, Buffon, Montero, Zambrotta, Legrottagile, Chiellini and Balzaretti the other options in defense. He went on to make 200 appearances for them, winning 2 Serie A titles along the way.
He then moved to Barcelona after The Old Lady’s relegation to the Serie B due to the Calciopoli scandal. He made just about 40 appearances for the Catalans and finally retired from the game due to a rare heart condition.
Gianluca Zambrotta
He moved to Juventus from Bari in the 1999 season and had a long and successful career at the club, making nearly 300 appearances and winning two league titles and playing one Champions League final in the process. His time at Juventus saw him thought of as the best full-back in the world, as he could play both flanks with ease.
Like Thuram, he moved to Barcelona after the Calciopoli scandal and spent two seasons there making nearly 60 appearances, but couldn’t win the European crown with them.
Thierry Henry
Thierry Henry had a glorious time at Arsenal, winning many trophies. He was signed by Arsene Wenger from Juventus. Henry spent only 6 months at the Turin club, where he could not really stamp his class as he was mostly playing on the wing.
The Frenchman, who had always dreamt about playing for Barcelona finally got his wish when he made the move to the Catalan giants in 2007-08. He had a fairly successful time and spent 3 seasons there, which saw him score nearly 50 goals from 120 appearances. At the Blaugrana, he won 2 League titles, a Champions League, a FIFA World Club Cup and a Copa del Rey title.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
The mercurial Swedish striker moved from Ajax to Juventus in the 2004-05 season for €16 Million and spent two seasons with them, making 92 appearances and managed to score 26 goals.
After the Calciopoli scandal, he moved to Inter Milan and came to Barcelona after spending 3 seasons in Milan. He had an excellent first season where he scored 21 goals from 45 appearances and was a key member of their squad which won the La Liga, and the FIFA Club World Cup. However, his time at the Catalan giants was marred with controversies and he moved on to AC Milan after a season due to a personal rift with Pep Guardiola.
