Villarreal knock Juventus out of Champions League

In the final 15 minutes, Villarreal scored three goals from their rare three shots on target in the entire match, achieving a 100% efficiency. They, therefore, secured the final ticket to the quarter-finals of the Champions League this season, after Liverpool, Real, Atletico, Chelsea, Man City, Bayern and Benfica. The La Liga representative also became the sixth team to win at Juventus in the Champions League knockout stages, after Man Utd won 3-2 in 1999, Deportivo 1-0 in 2004, Bayern 2-0 in 2013, Real 3-0 in 2018 and Ajax 2-1 in 2019.

Early this morning, March 17 (Vietnam time), Juventus continued to be without many key players. Leonardo Bonucci, Alex Sandro, Weston McKennie, Denis Zakaria and Federico Chiesa were injured. Paulo Dybala, Giorgio Chiellini and Federico Bernardeschi were only on the bench as they were not in the best shape. Meanwhile, Villarreal welcomed back two key players Gerard Moreno and Francis Coquelin, but Alberto Moreno, Paco Alcacer and Ruben Pena could not play.

At home, Juventus pushed up their formation right after the opening whistle and quickly created trouble for the visitors' goal. Throughout the 90 minutes, Juventus had 59% possession and 14 shots, five of which were on target.

In the 11th minute, Juan Cuadrado crossed the ball from the right wing for Alvaro Morata to head in an unmarked position, but Geronimo Rulli still reacted in time. The Spanish striker then placed the ball right on the edge of the penalty area, but the ball went weak and was caught by the Villarreal goalkeeper.

From the 20th to the 21st minute, Dusan Vlahovic had two consecutive dangerous finishes. The Serbian striker's left-footed shot was blocked by Rulli, then he had a one-touch cut-in shot that hit the crossbar from Mattia De Sciglio's cross.

Villarreal played better from the second half of the first half. The best chance they created was a left-footed shot from the edge of the box by Yeremi Pino that went wide of the post in the 22nd minute. Ten minutes later, Giovani Lo Celso and Serge Aurier had consecutive shots, but both missed the target.

A similar situation took place in the second half, when Juventus took the initiative and Villarreal gradually regained control of the game in the final minutes. The turning point came in the 75th minute, when the visitors were awarded a penalty. After going to the sideline to review the situation, referee Szymon Marciniak determined that centre-back Daniele Rugani had tripped Coquelin. On the 11m mark, Gerard Moreno fired a low shot to the left corner. Goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny got a hand to the ball but could not block it. Moreno has scored nine goals in European cups, including two in the Champions League and seven in the Europa League, a statistic that no other Spanish player has reached.

In the 85th minute, Villarreal doubled the lead to extinguish Juventus's hopes of a comeback. From a corner kick on the right wing, Aurier touched the ball for Pau Torres to tap into an empty net. This was the Spanish centre-back's first goal in eight Champions League games this season, and his fifth in all competitions.

Villarreal's brilliant day ended in the second minute of stoppage time. The visitors were awarded a penalty when Arnaut Danjuma's shot hit Matthijs de Ligt's arm. Danjuma took the blame and fired low into the right corner, away from Szczesny's dive. Danjuma became the first Villarreal player to score five goals in the Champions League, breaking the record of four set by Joseba Llorente in 2008-09.

Juventus have been eliminated from the Champions League Round of 16 for the third consecutive time, the same number as their ten previous appearances in the Round of 16. In the last two seasons, the Old Lady was eliminated by Porto and Lyon on away goals. Juventus' defeat yesterday also left Italian football empty-handed in the Champions League quarterfinals this season.

Saying goodbye to the continental arena, Juventus will focus on two domestic arenas. In Serie A, they are fourth with 56 points, three points behind Inter. On April 21, Max Allegri's team will meet Fiorentina in the second leg of the Italian Cup semi-finals. In the first leg, "The Old Lady" won 1-0 thanks to an own goal by Lorenzo Venuti.

Line-up:

Juventus: Szczesny, Danilo, Rugani (Dybala 78), De Ligt, De Sciglio, Cuadrado, Rabiot, Arthur, Locatelli (Bernardeschi 83), Vlahovic, Morata (Kean 85).

Villarreal: Rulli, Estupinan, Albiol, Pau Torres, Aurier, Pino (Chukwueze 64), Parejo (Pedraza 86), Capoue, Lo Celso (Moreno 74), Trigueros (Coquelin 64), Danjuma.

According to VnExpress