again missed for Juventus, humiliated by Villarreal

Another failure for Juventus! The Bianconeri will miss the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the third consecutive year, humiliated Wednesday at home by Villarreal (3-0), a defeat synonymous with elimination after the draw in the first leg in Spain (1-1 ).

Massimiliano Allegri, the follower of pragmatic victory, took a sacred lesson in efficiency from his Spanish counterpart Unai Emery: his « yellow submarine » surprised Juve in the last quarter of an hour with a penalty transformed by Gerard Moreno (78th), a goal from a corner by Pau Torres (85th) then a new penalty from Arnaut Danjuma (90 + 2nd).

With or without Ronaldo, same fight

With Cristiano Ronaldo, Juve had already stopped at this stage for the past two seasons, beaten by Lyon then FC Porto, despite returning home matches already. Without the Portuguese superstar, who did no better at Manchester United, the Bianconeri still failed – and in large widths – against an opponent within their reach on paper.

Read alsoChampions League: Beaten by the strongest, Lille comes out with its head held high and with honors

Here is Italy wiped off the European map, once again at the door of the roller coaster and Juve sent back to its limits in the game. Dusan Vlahovic, responsible for making people forget « CR7 », this time was unsuccessful despite several chances in the first half and it was all of Juve who lost in the second half, unable to pack the game despite controlling the ball. The Serb fell on a vigilant Geronimo Rulli (20th, 35th) and touched the bar on a superb deflection at the near post which would have changed a lot of things (21st).

Dybala too late

The Spanish goalkeeper also pulled off a good save on a fine header from Alavaro Morata at the start of the match (11th). But Juve knew they had to be wary of these Spanish techniques, who circulated the ball very well for 20 minutes and played the shots thoroughly. On the best of them, Lo Celso missed the frame by nothing (22nd).

All of these first-half ups and downs were swept away by an unexpected second half, which saw Juve cringe on increasingly low and wait-and-see Spaniards in their side. “Dybala Dybala”, we started to hear in the stands, while the Argentinian accelerated his warm-up and Rabiot tried two shots to animate a match that fell into a false rhythm (58th, 59th).

The Italian Cup to brighten up Juve’s end of the season

When Allegri finally tried something by throwing Dybala (78th), it was already too late: the match had just tipped in favor of the Spaniards, on a penalty obtained by Francis Coquelin for a late tackle from Daniele Rugani, transformed by Gerard Moreno . It was the beginning of the end for the tetanized Bianconeri who yielded twice more, leaving Villarreal to join Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid, other representatives of a triumphant Spain, in the quarter-finals.

Juve, behind in the league, only has the Italian Cup to save its season. Not sure that’s enough for the president of Juve Andrea Agnelli, the one who still dreams aloud of the Super League.