After Perugia, Istanbul. Thirteen years later, unforeseen climatic events are still fatal to Juventus, which prematurely abandons the stage of the Champions League to move on to the much less noble one of the Europa League. It will be there that the Lady will have to perform starting from February, the fault of a chilling defeat and not only for the snow in Istanbul. Ironically, the punisher of the black and whites is Wesley Sneijder, who dusted off his past Inter right in the final match. A great goal by the Dutchman, propitiated from the bank of the immense Drogba and concluded with a very angled and mocking left foot. Too bad, in every sense. Because Juve had kept the field well anyway, despite the fact that it was really at the limits of impracticability. It is inevitable to appeal to bad luck, because situations like this don't happen often. Playing such an important match in these conditions is absurd: is it possible that the brand new Turk Telecom Arena is not equipped to handle the snow? Obviously yes, and the match had to be played on two different days, with all that this entails.
The recriminations are there, but they end there. Galatasaray has encountered the same difficulties, however with the aggravating circumstance of having to score at all costs. And then Juve should never have had to play for qualification for the last game: it would have been enough to win in Copenhagen or against the same Turks in the first leg. Closing a group with only one success in six games gives an idea of how subdued the Champions League of Juve was. Who, between yesterday evening and today, was able to hold the field but without being able to close the conversation. Games in the balance like this can go well or badly, and this one, unfortunately, went badly. And to say that the Lady seemed to have managed the Turks' outburst in the best possible way, which reached its climax with the very occasional Drogba (57') and the consequent miracle of Buffon. Then Mancini's men had "calmed down", and Juve had two good chances in series with Marchisio (shot from the edge of the area blocked by Muslera) and Llorente (stopped on exit by the same Uruguayan goalkeeper). In the 85th minute the decisive goal: a long pass for Drogba, a header for Sneijder and an unstoppable left foot from the Dutchman. Mancini celebrates a sensational qualification for the round of 14, Conte foams with rage and ends up in the Europa League. The final of which will be played in Turin on May XNUMXth. A meager consolation for those who, until a few hours ago, had other goals in mind.
