While Ajax were battling Juventus in Turin, Italy, Bartomeu was sitting with his trusted aides in front of the television in the Barcelona president's office at Camp Nou, far away in Barcelona, Spain, watching this globally anticipated clash.
Influenced by the first leg, as well as the peak battle between Yang Yang and Cristiano Ronaldo, media and fans around the world had been eagerly awaiting this match, looking forward to watching this spectacular showdown.
Barcelona's management was no exception, because Ajax were not only Barcelona's semifinal opponents but also had players they were closely monitoring.
Frenkie de Jong was a player Barcelona had pursued bitterly for more than half a year. They assigned a dedicated scout to follow him in every match, while the club's technical department also kept a close eye on his performances and statistics in every game.
Last week, after the first leg between the two sides ended, Barcelona's technical department gave Frenkie de Jong's performance extremely high marks, believing he was the player in European Football best suited to Barcelona's tactics at present.
Moreover, the technical department was deeply dissatisfied with the department responsible for transfers and recruitment, because they had missed an excellent opportunity.
A week later, the two sides switched ends and faced each other again, but the script seemed to have been mixed up.
Juventus seemed to have received the supporting-role script from a week ago once more, while Ajax had taken center stage again.
The match proceeded almost exactly like the first leg a week earlier. The difference was that Juventus had attacked Ajax for a while after the opening ten-odd minutes, but everything else seemed the same.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored first, but Ajax then scored repeatedly, equalizing and turning the match around.
Frenkie de Jong did not shine as brilliantly as