{"id":108544,"date":"2022-10-26T10:14:28","date_gmt":"2022-10-26T10:14:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/juventus-3-benfica-4-initial-reaction-and-random-observations\/"},"modified":"2022-10-26T10:14:28","modified_gmt":"2022-10-26T10:14:28","slug":"juventus-3-benfica-4-initial-reaction-and-random-observations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/juventus-3-benfica-4-initial-reaction-and-random-observations\/","title":{"rendered":"Juventus 3 – Benfica 4: Initial reaction and random observations"},"content":{"rendered":"
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More than a few times after I fired up the old Paramount+ stream they rolled out the teaser for Sylvester Stallone’s new series on the streaming platform, \u201cTulsa King.\u201d<\/p>\n

Honestly, that seems like it would have been a much better watch than whatever the heck Juventus trotted out there Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

Any glimmer of hope that Juve had of making the final day of the group stage mean anything when it came to the Champions League knockout rounds are now done and dusted. Juventus didn’t just lose to Benfica, they got absolutely blown out of the water, with the Portuguese side running rampant on Max Allegri’s team that outside of a few minutes in the first half barely looked like they got off the bus.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a deserved 4-3 defeat if there ever was one,\u201d he told himself before Juve tried some second-half comeback things. And the thing about it is that it could have been a lot, a lot worse. Like A LOT.<\/p>\n

But to see Juventus, no matter how much realistic hope there was that they would keep their Champions League knockout round chances alive, come out and play the way they did before the Samuel Iling-Junior-fueled second-half comeback bid just shows you how bad things were for much of this trip to Portugal. The loss was very much down to both how they were set up on Tuesday night and how they just came out totally flat, allowing Benfica to build an impressive 3-1 lead going into halftime \u2014 one that they needed every bit of knowing how the second half played out.<\/p>\n

On the whole, though, this was bad, a 20-minute run of youthful ignorance unwilling.<\/p>\n

They might be putting it kindly, too.<\/p>\n

The fact that they were down two goals at the half in a game that they came in knowing they had to win just tells you everything about this current Juventus team. So does the fact that things only got better when Allegri looked like he waved the white flag and brought on three youngsters in Illing-Junior, Matias Soul\u00e9 and Fabio Miretti and then it’s like the reins are let go of and Juventus could actually play a little bit, too. (And Benfica were still very much pushing for goals at that point, so it’s not like they just shifting things down into cruise control before those subs.)<\/p>\n

We’re not here for moral victories in this kinds of games. Nah, we’re done with. There was one result that Juventus needed to keep hopes of making the Champions League knockout round alive and that didn’t happen. They knew the situation and then within one half got into the kind of situation that was virtually impossible to get out of over the course of the next 45 minutes.<\/p>\n

That’s on the manager.<\/p>\n

That’s on the players.<\/p>\n

That’s on everybody involved.<\/p>\n

To fall behind that quick and in that kind of fashion was just another example of the systematic problems that hamper this squad. Whether it’s the manager setting them up not to lose rather than come out and win a must-win matchup or the players making basic mistakes or not playing all that well, there’s blame all over.<\/p>\n

We’ve said it a lot over this season (and last season) (and the season before that), but Juventus has been its own worst enemy so many times that it’s not a surprise, at this point, that they are where they are . Juventus let Benfica take the game to them. And, being the good team that they are, Benfica made Juve share. That’s what you’re supposed to do. That’s how Juventus should have come out.<\/p>\n

Instead, Juve only looked like it had any semblance of major life when a 19-year-old Englishman making his second senior team appearance was running wild on the left wing.<\/p>\n

In the end, this is what Juventus deserves with how they’ve played in the Champions League group stage. This the only thing they deserve because it’s certainly not to actually be fighting for a spot in the last 16.<\/p>\n

RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS<\/h2>\n