Juventus were beaten 2-0 at home in the Champions League by Benfica, continuing a terrible week for Thiago Motta’s men.
After dropping points at Club Brugge, Juventus still held slim hopes of finishing in the top eight and needed a big win against Benfica, but the Portuguese side started the game as though they were determined to take all three points.
Andreas Schjelderup had a shot blocked, only for Samuel Mbangula to force a top-class save from Anatoliy Trubin as Juve turned defence into attack.
Schjelderup came close again, drawing a fine stop from Mattia Perin in the Juventus goal.
As Juve struggled to contain Benfica, their night worsened when Pierre Kalulu picked up an injury and could not continue.
Seconds after the Frenchman was subbed off, Vangelis Pavlidis smashed the ball home to open the scoring.
Juventus began pushing to get back into the game, with Douglas Luiz busy in midfield and Francisco Conceição probing the Benfica defence on the wing, but the Portuguese team came well-prepared.
In added time at the end of the first half, Benfica could have extended their lead if Pavlidis hadn’t drawn a world-class save from Perin.
After the break, Juve continued to struggle to create clear-cut chances, while Orkun Kökçü came agonisingly close to scoring a second for Benfica.
Khephren Thuram had a good chance to pull one back for Juventus from a rebound, but Trubin pulled off another fine save.
Juve kept pushing to score, but Trubin remained impenetrable when chances arose, and Benfica’s defence handled other threats effectively.
As Juventus searched for an equaliser, Benfica struck again against the run of play, with Kökçü finally finding the back of the net with a fine effort.
The second goal deflated the Bianconeri’s confidence, and despite their efforts, they were unable to find the goal they had worked so hard for, ultimately succumbing to another disappointing defeat.
10 Comments
The first UCL game I didn’t watch and I will not watch serie a and playoff till Motta out, better with Giuntoli out and Agnelli out.
I cant wait to watch this garbage for the next two years…..
Motta OUT
And the fitness department OUT! There is no other team with so many injuries.
Completely agree. It’s been terrible the last 4-5 years.
MOTTA’S FAULT is the BAD tactics and the BAD team is responsible, Luis is WEAK, Vlaho is VERY WEAK MISERABLE, he can’t kick goals, WHY did they play? ? ? Why did they buy Costa and Veiga if they do NOT play? ? ?
It’s the management’s FAULT, it does NOT give money to bring in QUALITY players. Motta WHY are you here? ? ? ZIDAN or DEL PIERO SHOULD be the COACH.
Good point about veiga. I completely forgot we added him. He wasn’t in the squad. Locatelli was horrible at CB, so bad I would have even put savona there before him. Good job Motta. Now the defense will be getting completely destroyed every match with kalulu out for at least 6 weeks cause it’s a hamstring injury. Goodbye top 4. Hope we enjoyed those draws cause there are going to be way more losses on the horizon. All this team could do is play defense. Can’t wait to hear Mottas excuses after this match. BTW we were getting destroyed defensively even before kalulu went off. Putting weah at RB was a disaster. Motta got this match so wrong it’s laughable. No Kolo when you were chasing the match?
If Motta is fair to Juventus he offers to leave. He failed.
No way he does sadly. Even if it’s fair, he’s toast as far as being hired. One good campaign as a manager and mid to lower table management otherwise. He won’t be hired in any hurry if he leaves. And his wages won’t be as high anywhere else.
If Juve fail to qualify for Champions league (which bring a lot of capital gaines) Motta should get fired imediatelly along with massive revamp of the managment who failed to sack Motta now….not to mention a medical staff.
It is better to replace deadwood players with next gen players who probably have more desire and ambitions.