Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri was deeply affected by the early exit from the Champions League. “Sad and angry” was his team, Allegri said after the 3: 4 at Benfica Lisbon. For the first time since 2013/14, Turin will miss the round of 16 in the premier class.
“It was more than the wrong approach. We were too soft defensively in the first half,” said Allegri, whose team had been paraded for an hour (1-4 down), trying to focus elsewhere. “We made too many mistakes, but there’s no point in talking about them now. I don’t see that as a failure. In football there are defeats too.” The Italian media commented less leniently on the failure. “What a bankruptcy,” wrote the daily newspaper “Gazzetta dello Sport”. “Tuttosport” asked on the front page under a photo of Allegris: “Who pays for the damage?”
The newspaper calculated that Juventus would now lose at least 25 million euros in revenue. In September, the traditional club and former employer of Cristiano Ronaldo reported a record loss of 254.4 million euros for the past season.
The focus is now on third place and the targeted move to the Europa League. With three points, they are level with bottom Maccabi Haifa, who went down 2-7 at Paris SG.
In contrast to Juve, Real Madrid and David Alaba can no longer be denied progress. Nevertheless, the first defeat of the season hurts. After the 2: 3 at RB Leipzig, coach Carlo Ancelotti primarily took his defense into account. “We didn’t pay attention to the ball and then got two goals that we usually defend much better,” said the Italian, after conceding two goals from corners.
In addition to Real, Benfica, Manchester City, Dortmund, Paris SG and Chelsea all qualified early for the knockout stages of the Champions League. Leipzig still needs a point at Donetsk.
Source: Nachrichten
