Europe remains cursed. Juventus did not go beyond the 0-0 home draw against Benfica and said goodbye to the "home" final on 14 May. That evening, at the Stadium, the Portuguese will contend for the cup against Sevilla, who qualified in the photo finish despite losing 3-1 in Valencia. The disappointment is enormous and perhaps not even the upcoming Scudetto will be able to erase it completely. The Juventus people finally dreamed of a success in the European arena, but once again they have to swallow a sour and bitter pill.
“We gave everything, unfortunately we missed the favorable episode – explained Antonio Conte in the press conference -. Benfica did a lot of obstruction, with all the time wasted we didn't go beyond 40 minutes of effective play, and then giving only 6 minutes of added time was a joke. They pass with two shots on goal in two games, we deserved in the double confrontation ".
A lot of bitterness, also by virtue of some at least questionable arbitration decisions. Juventus are missing a clean penalty for a touch of the arm by Markovic, and more generally the management of the Englishman Clattenburg has left more than one perplexity. Benfica was thus able to play it their way, with so much experience and cunning, that they ended up putting the black and white fury to sleep. Of course, the elimination from the Europa League can't be explained only by the episodes.
Once again the international dimension proved to be indigestible to the Lady, far from the ravenous and ruthless dimension of our home. A matter of head rather than legs, given that Conte's men pressed on the accelerator until the end. However, lucidity was lacking, just like in the Champions League matches against Copenhagen and Galatasaray, coincidentally the most disappointing of the season.
Lined up with the best possible formation, including the returning Vidal, the black and whites tried to put pressure on Benfica from the start, looking for that goal that would change everything. Possession in favor and Oplak's higher number of shots towards goal would suggest a bad evening, but in reality the Portuguese managed the situation quite well, only ending up suffering on a few occasions.
Above all, Vidal's header at the end of the first half, saved by Luisao right on the goal line. And then Lichtsteiner's blunder, almost unbelievably clumsy in making a mistake in a stop that would have brought him face to face with the goalkeeper. The final, in an atmosphere of crazy garra (Perez and Markovic sent off for Benfica, Vucinic for Juve) produced only a header from Caceres and a goal rightly disallowed by Osvaldo for offside.
Too little to go to the final and definitively cancel the European curse. Which at this point, scudetto or not, really starts to become a problem.
