Juventus 0-2 Barcelona: 5 talking points as Ousmane Dembele and Lionel Messi strikes secure big win for the Catalans | UEFA Champions League 2020-21

#2 Pedri excites, Dembele's confidence slowly returning

Dembele's effort took a wicked deflection off Chiesa to break the deadlock for Barcelona in the first-half

After marking his Champions League debut with a goal against Ferencvaros last week, 17-year-old Pedri has enjoyed an encouraging start to life at Barcelona.

Having joined for £4.5m from LaLiga2 side Las Palmas in July, he made his first UCL start against the Serie A champions and showed no fear.

Whether it was his clever stepovers, winning duels against Juan Cuadrado, creating chances in the final third or showing great awareness and anticipation to track back before dispossessing Paulo Dybala late on, he impressed throughout.

Pedri is the tweet.17-years-old.What a footballer. pic.twitter.com/ruXJOgh8cs

— Goal (@goal) October 28, 2020

Barcelona want to do a mini-rebuild by integrating fearless youngsters alongside more experienced veterans and in theory, there's no reason why it shouldn't work. Ansu Fati was a revelation last season and he turns 18 this weekend. Pedri isn't 18 for another month, while Sergino Dest (19), Francisco Trincao (20) and Riqui Puig (21) are among the promising prospects they're developing.

Meanwhile, there are players with a point to prove. We've already discussed Griezmann's struggles settling into the Barcelona style of play but Ousmane Dembélé started only his second game this season after more injury woes and marked it with a fortuitous finish.

It doesn't matter how they go in, just that they do, and his deflected effort floated into the corner to leave Szczesny helpless - all starting from Messi's clever switch of play.

Although he could've completed his brace before half-time, the goal itself will do him a world of good as the winger - still just 23 - aims to silence critics expecting him to depart after enduring inconsistency, injuries and general frustration during his three years at Barcelona.

The onus is on him to sustain a higher level of performance, like he displayed with Stade Rennais and Borussia Dortmund before his big-money switch to Spain.

#1 Questions remain for stale Juve under Pirlo

Pirlo endured a forgettable evening on the sidelines, seeing his Juve side limp to defeat against Barcelona

Were Barcelona that good or Juventus just really poor? That's a question that will remain long into the night for supporters and critics as Barcelona eased to a 2-0 win but didn't have much in the form of resistance to stop them.

After the match, captain Leonardo Bonucci told Sky Sport Italia that Juventus made too many technical mistakes which made things easier for Barcelona. Talk about stating the obvious.

The whole right-hand side of their team were non-existent for large periods, while Danilo and Adrien Rabiot made more tackles (13) than the rest of the team combined. They made it too easy for Messi and Pjanic to get on the ball and play, were pulled apart on multiple occasions and were fortunate they didn't concede five or six goals.

Sure, they're missing players. Alex Sandro (thigh), Giorgio Chiellini (muscle), Matthijs de Ligt (shoulder) and Ronaldo (COVID-19) are sidelined, but would they have made much difference? In the grand scheme of things, probably not. Pirlo is still trying to implement his style of play on players who don't appear to be comfortable carrying out those instructions.

He said post-match that they need to be quicker when moving the ball forward, but that in itself seems like a fundamental idea which shouldn't need much explaining.

Demiral gets a 2nd yellow as a direct result of other players being woefully inadequate in terms of tactical discipline. If he is to succeed, Pirlo’s biggest & most important task is to ensure they follow his instructions & certain high profile stars are simply not doing so.

— Adam Digby (@Adz77) October 28, 2020

Their issues run much deeper than that, of course, but it's easier to lay the blame on one man - Pirlo in this case - than a team packed with talent that hasn't looked the same since the latter months of Massimiliano Allegri's reign.

He knew the team were exhausted and needed a rebuild. So, he wisely stepped down with his reputation intact. How will Juventus progress under Pirlo? Only time will tell.