Turin, March 17 (BNA): With three different coaches in three seasons, the result remained the same for Juventus: three consecutive matches at home in the round of 16 of the Champions League.
European champions Villarreal scored three second-half goals in a 3-0 win on Wednesday to advance to the quarter-finals for the first time in 13 years, The Associated Press reported.
Substitute Gerard Moreno converted a penalty kick in the 78th minute to break the deadlock after a 1-1 draw in the first leg. Pau Torres was then left unchecked to redirect a corner kick before Arno Danjuma added another penalty to put Villarreal ahead 4-1 on aggregate.
“Over the 75 minutes, the team performed well,” said Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri. “Then one episode changed the match. These things happen in football and we have to accept this huge loss.”
Allegri has returned to Juventus this season after coaching Maurizio Sarri and Andrea Pirlo for the Bianconeri during defeats against Lyon and Porto at this point for the past two seasons in a row.
Including a quarter-final defeat to Ajax in 2019, this is the fourth consecutive time that Juventus have been eliminated after the return leg at home.
“We have to improve in scoring when we dominate matches like tonight,” Juventus defender Danilo said. “We made another mistake after their first goal. We still had time to equalize and take the game into extra time but we all advanced and they punished us.”
In the other match on Wednesday, defending champions Chelsea advanced 4-1 on aggregate with a 2-1 victory over Lille.
The quarter-final draw will take place on Friday.
Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Atletico Madrid and Benfica also advanced to the quarter-finals.
Juventus missed its captain Giorgio Chiellini, who did not leave the bench after an absence due to injury, and his colleague in the heart of the defense, Leonardo Bonucci, who is still injured.
The Bianconeri have been eliminated by Lyon and Porto at Allianz Stadium in the past two years under Maurizio Sarri and Andrea Pirlo respectively. With Massimiliano Allegri returning as coach this season, that trend was expected to be broken. But after a strong first half, Juventus collapsed midway through the second.
The penalty kick was awarded after the VAR referee ruled that Juventus defender Daniele Rugani had fouled Francis Coquelin. Juventus goalkeeper Wojciech Szczczny saved three consecutive strikes in Serie A and got his gloves on on Moreno’s kick but couldn’t stop it.
“We are here at the Juventus stadium and we will always struggle,” said Villarreal goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli. “We defended incredibly and we have to applaud that. We are happy to be still in the competition.”
Torres scored from close range in the 85th minute after a corner kick. Then Matthijs de Ligt’s handball in injury time created a penalty for Danjuma.
“That is the script. We wanted to make it a long game for them,” Torres said. “We had a number of important players on the bench and Gerrard completely changed his team when he came because he is a great player.”
With the away goals rule not used, both teams needed a win to advance.
Juve had several chances early on, including when Dusan Vlahovic hit the crossbar with a one-touch pass after Mattia De Sciglio’s cross and Alvaro Morata’s header. Giovanni Lo Celso ran away at Villarreal’s best chance in the first half.
At the start of the second half, Villarreal seemed content to sit back and try to use extra time and penalties. But when Moreno came along, the momentum changed.
“This is football,” said Juventus midfielder Juan Cuadrado. “We had a good first half with some chances. In the second half we tried to move the ball more to create spaces but it was well placed.”