Juventus hero Dybala revels in dream night against Barcelona

Dom Farrell

Juventus hero Dybala revels in dream night against Barcelona image

Paulo Dybala reflected upon living a childhood dream after his match-winning turn in Juventus' 3-0 Champions League quarter-final triumph over Barcelona.

Dybala outshone Argentina team-mate Lionel Messi and the Spanish champions' other stars by netting a sublime first-half brace.

Giorgio Chiellini headed in a third 10 minutes into the second half to leave Luis Enrique's side again staring down the barrel of a Champions League exit, a month on from historically overturning a 4-0 first-leg deficit against PSG.

Dybala is now among football's elite

"I am very happy - very happy because as a child I wanted to live these moments and today I managed it," Dybala told Mediaset Premium.

"We certainly cannot rest on our laurels. We know that we need a positive result in the second leg and need to keep a clean sheet, because it's tough out there, tough – we all saw it [against PSG].

"But we are a great team and can work together to do it."

Miralem Pjanic impressed in midfield for Juventus and supplied the corner for Chiellini's goal.

The Bosnia-Herzegovina international echoed Dybala's calls for caution when he spoke to BT Sport after the match.

"It was a great game from both teams. Of course we are happy we scored three goals and 3-0 is a good score for us," he said.

"But it is not finished. We know what they did against Paris and we don't have to [suffer] that.

"We have to be careful because every time it is difficult in Barcelona. They have great players. We know what they can do.

"We will aim to score again and have to do a good job there."

Dom Farrell

Dom Farrell Photo

Dom is the senior content producer for Sporting News UK. He previously worked as fan brands editor for Manchester City at Reach Plc. Prior to that, he built more than a decade of experience in the sports journalism industry, primarily for the Stats Perform and Press Association news agencies. Dom has covered major football events on location, including the entirety of Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup in Paris and St Petersburg respectively, along with numerous high-profile Premier League, Champions League and England international matches. Cricket and boxing are his other major sporting passions and he has covered the likes of Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Wladimir Klitschko, Gennadiy Golovkin and Vasyl Lomachenko live from ringside.