Juan Cuadrado insists Juventus ‘tried to do what the coach asked’ against Villarreal, but the Spaniards defended stoutly and struck on the counter-attack.
It is if anything an even more painful Champions League exit at the Round of 16 than the last two seasons, as those came on away goals, whereas this was a complete and total capitulation on home turf.
Champions League | Juventus 0-3 Villarreal (1-4 agg): Old Lady sunk by Yellow Submarine
Juve had largely dominated the first half, hitting the crossbar with Dusan Vlahovic and forcing at least two tough saves, but they crumbled when Daniele Rugani gave away a penalty for a mistimed tackle on Francis Coquelin.
Pau Torres then tapped in from close range before another spot-kick for the Matthijs de Ligt handball.
“I don’t think there is an explanation, sometimes football is like that,” Cuadrado told Amazon Prime Italia.
“We had a good first half, didn’t take our chances and that affected us. We tried to move the ball more to create spaces after the break, but Villarreal defended well and were happy to wait for a counter-attack.
“This is football, we now have to fight to the end to do well in Serie A. We tried to do what the coach asked, move the ball around more to create spaces, but Villarreal were so well set out in defence that the only way of finding a way through was crosses.”
Cuadrado was asked if there was a Champions League curse for Juventus after going out in the Round of 16 for three years in a row.
“When you reach this level, it is always difficult. I think we need to just carry on and hopefully next season we’ll go further.
“It’s natural to feel upset, but we still have objectives in Serie A and the Coppa Italia. We need to turn the page quickly and try to be at 100 per cent for those remaining matches.”
“The mastermind of the European competitions!”
“We associate him with what he did at Arsenal which is completely wrong.”
Owen Hargreaves and Steve McManaman insists people ought to put some respect on Unai Emery’s name.#UCL pic.twitter.com/UUlCpCBi0w
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) March 16, 2022
Your coach asked you to win but he forgot choking in Europe is in Juve’s DNA, sorry!