Last Thursday, Juve’s Italian block was shell-shocked after failing the reach the World Cup for the second edition in a row. The Azzurri lost at home to North Macedonia in the Semi Finals of the European qualifiers.
This effectively means that the likes of Giorgio Chiellini (unless he retires), Leonardo Bonucci, Manuel Locatelli, Federico Chiesa, Federico Bernardeschi and Mattia De Sciglio will remain at Max Allegri’s disposal next season.
But following last night’s results, the Italians have now learnt that Juan Cuadrado will be joining them on the sidelines.
Despite Colombia’s win over Venezuela in the final round of the South American qualifiers, it was Peru who secured the fifth place in the standings following their win over Paraguay.
Therefore, Peru will have the chance to progress to Qatar 2022 if they beat the fifth team from the Asian qualifiers (which will either be Australia or UAE), while Colombia’s 6th place finish left them out of the competition altogether.
For his part, Cuadrado had already returned to Turin, as his suspension prevented him from taking part in his national team’s last qualifying match.
But on a more positive note for Juventus, Wojciech Szczesny secured a clean sheet, as Poland sealed their spot in the World Cup by beating Sweden at home. Robert Lewandowski broke the deadlock from the spot, and Piotr Zielinski added the second.
Finally, Arthur entered the pitch in the 77th minute for Brazil, as they easily routed Bolivia 4-0 away from home, while his Juventus teammate Danilo remained on the bench. The Selecao had already qualified with several rounds to spare.
