Villarreal defender Raul Albiol admits the 3-0 result is ‘harsh’ on Juventus, but they ‘waited for the right moment and pounced’ to reach the Champions League Round of 16.

The first leg ended 1-1 at La Ceramica and the Bianconeri had several chances in the first half this evening, including Dusan Vlahovic off the crossbar and a couple of tough saves from Geronimo Rulli.

However, Daniele Rugani mistimed his tackle on Francis Coquelin and Gerard Moreno converted the penalty.

Champions League | Juventus 0-3 Villarreal (1-4 agg): Old Lady sunk by Yellow Submarine

Juve then crumbled, conceding from a Pau Torres tap-in on a corner and another spot-kick by Arnaut Danjuma.

“I think the 3-0 result is harsh, as Juve had to attack at that point to get back into it and we scored another two goals,” former Napoli defender Albiol told Sky Sport Italia.

“It was a very balanced game, they created far more opportunities than we did in the first half, but we waited for the right moment, held our nerve and pounced.

“In the Champions League, you pay for the slightest error and the penalty to put us 1-0 up was a heavy blow for Juventus.”

Dusan Vlahovic had put Juve 1-0 up in Spain within 32 seconds, but this time was denied by the crossbar.

“Over the two legs, Juve didn’t take their chances and we continued to have the same attitude, which paid off in the end.

“We prepared for this, we knew Juventus were a strong side with a lot of history and that we’d have to suffer in the first half, so we did.”

One thought on “Albiol: ‘Result harsh on Juventus, but Villarreal held nerve’”
  1. It is a game that Juve could have won (1-0 pr 2-0 at half time could have happened), but lets be honest, this team would have got crushed in the QF by Bayern or City. Better to lose to a nice small club like Villareal. I hope they go all the way (but they wont)

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