Juventus surrendered with a score of 0-2 from Atletico Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League last 16 at Wanda Metropolitano on Wednesday (20/2).
The duel was fierce in the first round. Both teams produce opportunities. Juventus produced the best opportunity through Ronaldo’s free kick which could still be saved by Jan Oblak. Atletico’s opportunity was created through a free kick. Similar to the fate of Ronaldo, Griezmann’s strike could also be thwarted by Wojciech Szczesny who appeared excellent.
Rojiblancos tried to increase the aggressiveness of the attack since the early minutes of the second half and managed to produce two brilliant opportunities. First, Diego Costa’s stray shot (50 ‘) and Griezmann’s lob which hit the bar (52′).
Morata who came on to replace Costa could make the stadium rumble after his header thrilled the Juventus goal in the 70th minute. Unfortunately the referee annulled the goal. After watching the VAR, the referee canceled Morata’s goal because he was considered to have committed a foul on Giorgio Chiellini.
The hosts finally really broke the deadlock in the 79th minute. It was Gimenez who brought Atletico 1-0 ahead after using the heat in front of the goal. The ball could not be anticipated by Szczesny who was dead step. Juventus’s suffering increased after Diego Godin managed to double the hosts’ lead in the 83rd minute. Goals created by this Uruguayan defender also occurred through crisis.
Juventus continues to put pressure on the remaining time. Bernadeschi almost managed to minimize the position in the 90th minute, but his shot was still able to be pushed over by Oblak who appeared fantastic. The advantage of Atletico lasted until the fight was over. Max Allegri’s squad should work harder to turn things around at the second meeting in Turin.
Even so, Allegri remained confident with the chance to escape his team. Allegri realized his troops showed some weakness in the second 45 minutes.
“In the second half we played badly because we made a number of mistakes,” Massimiliano Allegri was quoted as saying by BolaSport.com from the official UEFA website.
“We did not release a single shot on target in the second half.”
“Now we still have the opportunity to turn things around and we have to be sure,” Allegri said again.
Massimiliano Allegri makes fighting with Real Madrid in the 2017-2018 Champions League quarter-final match as a reference.
Juventus swallowed a 0-3 defeat at home to Real Madrid in the first meeting before winning 3-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu. Juventus even led 3-0 at Real Madrid headquarters.
However, the Juventus goalkeeper at the time, Gianluigi Buffon, received a red card in the 90th minute + 3 and Cristiano Ronaldo, who was still in Real Madrid costume, scored in the 90th + 7th minute to disperse the Bianconeri’s dream.
“Luckily we didn’t concede a third goal because the 0-2 result can still be easily reversed,” said Massimiliano Allegri.
“We are not dead yet.”
“We also did not die from losing 3-0 to Real Madrid in last season’s home game and now we are not dead.”
“We must immediately forget this defeat and try to play better in Turin,” Allegri added.
Massimiliano Allegri must think hard to score a goal against Atletico Madrid.
