Juventus Gracefully Bow Out of the European Stage

It took Juventus two years to get back into Europe’s finest tournament, but the dream came to an abrupt stop last night.

Claudio Ranieri’s squad was once again ripped apart by injuries ahead of the most important game the club would play for the past two seasons.

Although Chelsea looked immensely stronger on paper, what was to unfold on the pitch would prove otherwise—that would, however, not apply to the end result.

Ranieri had tweaked his starting line-up due to the injured players and despite losing Pavel Nedved to injury after only 12 minutes of play, the home side managed to take the lead. A brilliant build-up by David Trezeguet and Vincenzo Iaquinta saw the latter level the score on aggregate.

Shortly before the half time whistle Chelsea scored the crucial away goal after a long range shot from Frank Lampard which hit the crossbar and deflected out to Michel Essien who tapped the ball into the net with ease. The hope of progressing was fading fast to say the least.

Goalscorer Iaquinta was sacrificed for the Atomic Ant with half an hour left and what an impact little Sebastian Giovinco had. The youngster dribbled, created and even came close to adding his name on the scoresheet.

With 20 minutes left to play Giorgio Chiellini received his marching orders after a horrific refereeing decision. The centre back was without a doubt on the ball first and the error which left the Juventus rearguard incredibly vulnerable proved to be Juventus’ downfall in the end.

The Bianconeri faithful was to be given slender hope when Juliano Belletti handled the ball inside the box. Alessandro Del Piero stepped up (while I switched channels) and made no mistake as he put Juventus level on aggregate once again. Chelsea was, however, still in pole position with the away goal in their favor.

Things on the field looked promising but without another goal the story was to end soon. So it did when Didier Drogba in the dying minutes of the game managed to squeeze in 2-2 to end all hopes of European glory for this time.

Hats off to Chelsea for their effective play, but one can’t deny the feelings of injustice when their team came so tantalizingly close to progressing. Not only that, but they also played with pure heart on the field and in simple words deserved more.

Even Christian Molinaro (only God knows how many times I have cursed that man) put in the performance of his career.

The worst part of last night is the fact that the game against Chelsea was Pavel Nedved’s last performance on the European stage. The Czech has never made a secret of his desire to win the prestigious tournament and after last night it is simply not going to happen.

The defeat was bitter in many ways, but at the end of the day only one team progresses. This simply wasn’t the year for the Old Lady of Turin. Juventus still managed a feat that many of their counterparts failed—to bow out gracefully.