Juventus lost their fifth game out of six in the Champions League, but still snatched a Europa League spot after a 2-1 home defeat to PSG, which saw Federico Chiesa make his comeback.
It turns out this was nothing to celebrate for Paris Saint-Germain either, as they lost out on top spot to Benfica because with everything else equal, the Portuguese scored more away goals, winning 6-1 in Haifa.
The Bianconeri were already out of the Champions League after losing four of their five games, but needed to equal or improve on the Maccabi Haifa result to at least get third place and the Europa League play-offs.
Danilo was suspended, with Moise Kean, Dusan Vlahovic, Angel Di Maria, Leandro Paredes, Gleison Bremer, Weston McKennie, Paul Pogba, Mattia De Sciglio and Samuel Iling-Junior all injured. Neymar sat out a ban, while Presnel Kimpembe and Keylor Navas didn’t make the trip.
Manuel Locatelli drilled wide from the edge of the area, but Kylian Mbappé managed to resist Federico Gatti literally dragging him back by the shirt and still thump a rocket into the net from just outside the box.
Locatelli went close again, another curler inches wide of the far top corner, and former Napoli midfielder Fabian Ruiz went off injured.
Juan Cuadrado blasted just past the near stick, Fabio Miretti lost his balance to turn wide and saw another shot charged down by Marquinhos, while Wojciech Szczesny spilled a Lionel Messi attempt.
Juve got a deserved equaliser when a free kick was taken short and Locatelli floated a ball over the top that Cuadrado’s diving header knocked across for Leonardo Bonucci to slide in at the back post. It was the defender’s first Champions League goal since November 2016 against Sevilla.
Mbappé surged forward from midfield only to then fire straight at Szczesny, but PSG restored their lead with substitute Nuno Mendes, who placed an angled drive into the far bottom corner within seconds of coming off the bench.
The good news for Juve was that Maccabi Haifa were losing 4-1 at home to Benfica, so third place was still safe.
More good news was the comeback of Federico Chiesa for the first time since tearing his ACL in January, and he immediately drilled wide of the target.
Locatelli had the ball in the net on 79 minutes, but was offside on the rebound as Gianluigi Donnarumma parried Filip Kostic’s strike.
Chiesa also had strong penalty appeals rejected for a block in the box and another shot charged down.
Juventus 1-2 PSG
Mbappé 14 (P), Bonucci 39 (J), Nuno Mendes 69 (P)
Those things happens when you have the Polish traffic policeman instead of a true goalkeeper.
I wonder how much better is he over Perin. Another mastermind from Max…
liked how we played today, we attacked, played good fast football
would say 1 negative, we tried too many crosses in the second half
No shame in this marvellous CL failed experiment for the part timers better known as the 7/9 bush leaguers. 1/6 is the stuff of super league dreams. Interesting stat. Take all the teams from the CL and put their points on the board as one league. Dial up calcio Max is hovering in the Rangers relegation zone.
Full horse whipping coming back to the village this Sunday at the hands of a bigger European giant.