For the second straight season, Juventus are out of the new-look Champions League before the Round of 16 gets underway as springtime in Europe arrives.
The manner of which it happened was very different than a year ago in the Netherlands, but the fact still remains the same: Juventus are now out of the Champions League in the play-off round and are left to only fight for a finish in the top four so that they can take part in next season’s competition.
It’s not great by any means.
Juventus continue to
show just how much of a step back in Europe they’ve taken in recent years. The comeback attempt was a great fight, but it was needed because of what happened in the first leg against Galatasaray the week prior. Juve made their own bed, then had to scramble to try and fix everything that went wrong, only to be hard done by another controversial refereeing decision and forced to flip a 5-2 aggregate lead with 10 men, something that ultimately came up short in extra time on Wednesday night.
It was a disappointing end to a frustrating tie in which Juve don’t have anybody to blame but themselves because of that second half in Istanbul eight days earlier.
And because of it, it’s another season in which they’re out of the competition much, much earlier than a club like Juventus should be eliminated.
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