Villarreal late present knocks Juventus out of Champions League

TURIN, Italy :Three late targets earned Villarreal a surprising 3-0 second-leg victory at Juventus on Wednesday to sentence the Serie A aspect to a 4-1 combination loss and a Champions League last-16 exit for the third successive season.

Having fallen earlier than the quarter-finals towards Olympique Lyonnais and Porto within the earlier two seasons, in-form Juventus, who had misplaced simply as soon as of their final 21 matches in all competitions, have been agency favourites to progress.

Juve dominated the primary half and have been unlucky not to enter the break in entrance after Dusan Vlahovic’s good flicked effort got here again off the crossbar, however they may not sustain the strain within the second interval.

Villarreal have been content material to sit down again and wait for his or her second, which got here within the 78th minute after the guests have been awarded a penalty following a VAR evaluate, with substitute Gerard Moreno, who had solely simply come on, squeezing the spot kick dwelling.

Juve threw on Argentine striker Paulo Dybala as they regarded to stage the tie, however targets down the opposite finish from defender Pau Torres and one other penalty, this time transformed by Arnaut Danjuma, accomplished a well-known win for Unai Emery’s staff.

Juventus got here into the final 16 having additionally loved a formidable group-stage marketing campaign the place they completed high forward of the present holders Chelsea.

A blistering begin noticed Spanish striker Alvaro Morata denied by a tremendous save from Villarreal goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli, giving the house followers hope that development to the final eight could be a clean course of.

January signing Vlahovic was proving to be an actual handful, drilling vast earlier than his improvised effort got here out off the woodwork.

Villarreal have been having fun with loads of possession, however couldn’t do a lot with it. They regarded extra snug after the break, nonetheless, as Juve struggled to maintain up their momentum.

Daniele Rugani’s lunging sort out on Francis Coquelin gave Villarreal the possibility to steer the tie for the primary time. Juve keeper Wojciech Szczesny, who saved a penalty on the weekend, virtually stored out the spot kick, however noticed the ball squirm via his fingers.

Torres’s end from a nook sparked wild scenes of celebration with Villarreal realizing the job was carried out, regardless that there was nonetheless time for one more transformed penalty, after Matthijs de Ligt’s handball.

Having dominated for such lengthy durations, solely Juve will know the way they managed to lose by three targets.

(Reporting by Peter HallEditing by Toby Davis)