Villarreal have sent Juventus crashing out of the Champions League at the round of 16 stage after late strikes from Gerard Moreno, Pau Torres and Arnaut Danjuma condemned the Italian giants to a 4-1 aggregate defeat on Wednesday.
2021/2022 UEFA Champions League
0-3
Match Events
0' KICK-OFF! Who can win this match?
21' POST! Vlahovic's shot hits the post
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22' Lo Celso's shot wide out
31' Aurier's long shot wide out
58' Rulli denied Rabiot's long shot
77' Penalty Goal! Juventus 0-1 Villarreal (Moreno)
84' GOAL! Juventus 0-2 Villarreal (P. Torres)
90' GOAL! Juventus 0-2 Villarreal (Groeneveld)
Match Reports
With not much to separate the two sides for the majority of the 75 minutes – barring a shot off the crossbar from Dusan Vlahovic – the deadlock was broken 12 minutes from time when Moreno smashed home from the penalty spot after Francis Coquelin was adjudged to have been fouled inside the area following a VAR check.
Juve's hopes were then completed dashed when Pau Torres scored a second, tapping the ball in from close range during a corner to make it 3-1 on aggregate from a corner in the 85th minute.
Then, Villarreal were awarded a second penalty, which Danjuma converted to seal a superb win for Unai Emery's side. It's the third time in the Spanish club's history that they've made the quarter-finals of Europe's elite club competition.
Allegri has faced criticism of late for Juventus' style of play both domestically and in Europe, but the Italian doubled down on Wednesday and his team put on another underwhelming show against a Villarreal side who were more than happy to sit deep and leave their hosts to have possession that they were unable to do anything with.
Juventus' slow tempo appeared to be playing into the LaLiga Santander side's hands for the majority of the evening, with Unai Emery's team running the clock down whenever they could in the first half and through the second, even with the scores level at 1-1.
The Italian side failed to pose any real trouble for Geronimo Rulli in Villarreal's goal, despite Dusan Vlahovic and Alvaro Morata starting together in attack. Paulo Dybala came on as a second-half substitute.
Villarreal were gifted the chance to go ahead when Daniele Rugani brought down Francis Coquelin in the area and Gerard Moreno, having just stepped onto the pitch moments earlier, converted despite Wojciech Szczesny getting two hands to his effort.
That lead was doubled eight minutes later and with five to play as Pau Torres converted from inside the Juventus box after some woeful defending. Matthijs de Ligt conceded another penalty in the last minute of the 90 with his best impression of a goalkeeper, allowing Arnaut Danjuma to convert.
Line-ups
Juventus XI: Szczesny, Cuadrado, Danilo, Morata, De Sciglio, Rugani, Rabiot, Arthur, Locatelli, De Ligt, D. Vlahović
Subs: Chiellini, Pinsoglio, Perin, Dybala, Bernardeschi, L.Pellegrini, Kean, F. Miretti
Villarreal XI: Albiol, Capoue, Parejo, G. Rulli, Aurier, Trigueros, Lo Celso, P. Estupiñán, Groeneveld, P. Torres, Yeremy
Subs: Asenjo, Iborra, Gaspar, Coquelin, Mandi, G. Moreno, Moi Gómez, R.Peña, Pedraza, S. Chukwueze, Foyth, B. Dia