Unai Emery has rubbed salt into the Juventus wounds after guiding his Villarreal side to an eye-catching triumph over the Italian giants.
Despite being underdogs in the tie, the Spanish side romped home to a 4-1 aggregate victory over the Bianconeri, who have now been eliminated at the Round of 16 stage for three successive seasons. Yet despite Juve’s repeated failings, Emery insisted that the 2015 and 2017 finalists were among the favourites to win this season’s competition.
Despite Dusan Vlahovic scoring in the first minute of the first leg, the Old Lady did not find the net again across the remaining three hours of the tie as Villarreal goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli produced a fine display in the second leg. Penalties from Gerard Moreno and Arnaut Danjuma either side of a Pau Torres goal – all in the final 12 minutes – sealed Villarreal’s progress to the quarter finals.
Emery said in his post-match press conference, as per Football Italia : “These games are always filled with difficulties, our goalkeeper did a great job and we were lucky with the crossbar. We defended deep, but then stepped up and gained more space, able to pierce a Juventus defence that allows very little. We had patience and did many things right. After the opening goal, there were more spaces opening up and we made the most of it in the final 15 minutes.”
The result was Emery’s first Champions League knockout victory as a manager, despite having reached five Europa League finals – of which he has won four. The former Arsenal boss continued: “I am in love with the Europa League, but now I want to enjoy the Champions League. All the past experiences helped, they are in the locker.
“It was important to see today if and how we could eliminate one of the favourites for the competition. It was a special moment and we want to enjoy it. The team knows that in order to do more extraordinary things, they have to study and work harder.”
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Juve boss Max Allegri meanwhile insisted that his side’s season was not over due to their position in Serie and in the Coppa Italia. When quizzed if his team’s campaign had been a disaster, he responded: “If you have intellectual dishonesty, you read it in a way, but the reality is different. Do you understand?
“I knew that people would talk about a failure in case of elimination, but that’s intellectual dishonesty. I know the value of team. We’ve been using the same players for two months, we are in the race for the top four and the Coppa Italia. I have nothing to reproach the guys. They are doing extraordinary things.
“The season is ongoing, we have targets to reach. We are disappointed and we’ll make our assessments to improve the team. We do that every year. We also need to be realists. There are ten teams in Europe superior to Juventus.
"It’s no shame, it’s a fact. I agree that we had to qualify today, but it was not easy. It’s useless to talk now, we must remain quiet, focus on the league and the Coppa Italia to see if we can take a trophy at home.”
Juventus have not won the Champions League since 1996 while no Italian side has lifted the trophy since Inter’s triumph in 2010.
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