The Latest: Berlin, Soccer’s Party Capital for CL Final – ABC News

The Latest from the Champions League final:

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8:01 p.m.

No surprises from either Massimiliano Allegri or Luis Enrique. The Juventus and Barcelona coaches are sticking with the winning formulas that got their teams to the Champions League final.

Barcelona is unchanged from the side that lost 3-2 loss at Bayern Munich in the semifinal, second leg, but which still advanced 5-3 on aggregate to the final. 2010 World Cup winning goal scorer Andres Iniesta starts in the Barcelona midfield, seemingly recovered from a right knee problem.

For Juventus, Andrea Barzagli replaces injured defender Giorgio Chiellini. That is the only change in the team that tied 1-1 with Real Madrid in the semifinal, second leg, to advance 3-2 on aggregate.

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7:50 p.m.

How the finalists line up:

Barcelona: Marc-Andre ter Stegen; Daniel Alves, Gerard Pique, Javier Mascherano, Jordi Alba; Sergio Busquets, Ivan Rakitic, Andres Iniesta; Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Neymar.

Juventus: Gianluigi Buffon; Stephan Lichtsteiner, Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci, Patrice Evra; Claudio Marchisio, Andrea Pirlo, Paul Pogba, Arturo Vidal; Alvaro Morata, Carlos Tevez.

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7:36 p.m.

Some thrive, others wilt under the intense pressure of club football’s biggest game, the Champions League final. Paul Pogba looks like he can’t wait.

The Juventus midfielder, chewing what looks like a plastic coffee-stirrer, sported an ear-to-ear grin as he wandered onto the Olympic Stadium pitch. He whipped out his mobile phone to record the scene for posterity and went over to greet a section of Juventus fans.

Neymar — a prong in the Barcelona attacking trio, with Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, that has scored 120 goals so far this season — is looking cool as a cucumber, too. Headphones on, the Brazilian sang to himself as he came off the Barcelona bus. Samba, perhaps.

Down in the locker rooms, the players’ jerseys await. Video here: https://twitter.com/FCBarcelona/status/607235500638912512

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7:15 p.m.

The venue for the Champions League final, Berlin’s Olympic Stadium, is steeped in history, some of it very dark.

The Nazis built it as their showpiece arena to milk the propaganda value of the 1936 Olympic Games. Adolf Hitler himself selected the design by brothers Werner and Walter March.

But sharecroppers’ son Jesse Owens stole the Olympic show. Winning four gold medals, the black American made a mockery of Nazi claims of Aryan supremacy. Hitler refused to enter the stadium when Owens competed.

Barcelona and Juventus fans are flocking to the stadium on a road named in his honor. Owens is also remembered — along with other gold medalists from 1936 — on a stone plaque carved with their names. Here’s a photo: https://twitter.com/johnleicester/status/607202230261972992

After the Allied victory in 1945, British troops took over the arena. In 2002, during renovation work, a 250-kilogram (550-pound) British bomb was plucked from beneath the lower ring of seats.

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6:57 p.m.

Downtown, at the Brandenburg Gate that was on the dividing line between East and West Berlin during the Cold War, it is party time, with a capital ‘P.’