Another big name has been knocked out from the Round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League. After PSG and Manchester United, Juventus is the new name included on the list of being knocked out. Last night, they welcomed the Spanish side, Villarreal FC, to play the second leg of the Round of 16. Unfortunately, they couldn’t score a single goal in their home ground. On the other hand, the visitors netted three times to secure the victory.
Match Report
The first leg between Juventus and Villarreal ended in a 1-1 draw. So, both teams needed to win the match in the second leg to qualify for the quarter-final. Max Allegri, the home team manager, set up the team formation with 3-5-2. He used three center-back with two full-backs. In the front, the manager used Alvaro Morata with the new signing, Dusan Vlahovic. On the other side, Unai Emery played his team in a 4-4-1-1 formation.
As the home team, Juventus tried to push the opponents from the starting. They dominated in the midfield in the first half. In the 11th minute, the Juve forward Alvaro Morata had a great chance. But Villarreal’s goalkeeper G. Rulli made a brilliant save. In the first half, Juventus had more opportunities to score, but the solid defense of Villarreal prevented them from scoring. As a result, the first part ended in 0-0.
However, Villarreal looked sharp in the second half. They played better football in this half. But, they also couldn’t find the net. It seemed the match would go in the extra time. Unfortunately, D. Rugani made a mistake in the 77th minute as he fouled Francis Coquelin inside the box. As a result, the match referee offered a penalty kick to the visitors. Gerard Moreno took that shot and made no mistakes.
Conceding the goal, the Allegri boys became so messy. Villarreal took that advantage and doubled their lead in the 85th minute with a goal from Pau Torres. Moreover, Juventus’ defender De Ligt made a handball inside the box at the very last moment. So the referee gave a penalty kick again. This time, Arnaut Danjuma took the shot. He also scored that goal without making any errors. Therefore, Villarreal won the very crucial match and qualified for the quarterfinals.