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Villarreal's opening goalscorer Gerard Moreno (centre) celebrates with his teammates after the match.
Villarreal's opening goalscorer Gerard Moreno (centre) celebrates with his teammates after the match. Photograph: Massimo Pinca/Reuters
Villarreal's opening goalscorer Gerard Moreno (centre) celebrates with his teammates after the match. Photograph: Massimo Pinca/Reuters

Villarreal’s late salvo sends Juventus crashing out of Champions League

This article is more than 2 years old

Three late goals earned Villarreal a stunning 3-0 second-leg victory at Juventus on Wednesday to condemn the Serie A side to a 4-1 aggregate loss and a Champions League last-16 exit for the third successive season.

With the tie finely poised at 1-1 from the first leg, Juventus dominated the first half and were unfortunate not to go into the break in front after Dusan Vlahovic’s brilliant flicked effort came back off the crossbar.

They could not keep up the pressure after the break, with Villarreal content to sit back and wait for their moment, which came in the 78th minute after the visitors were awarded a penalty following a VAR review.

Substitute Gerard Moreno, who had only just come on, stepped up and squeezed the ball home to edge the Spanish visitors in front.

Juve threw on Argentine striker Paulo Dybala as they looked to level the tie, but goals down the other end from defender Pau Torres and another penalty, this time converted by Arnaut Danjuma, completed a famous win for Unai Emery’s team.

Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri reacted angrily to questions about his side’s disappointing season following their exit. Serie A’s most successful side have not enjoyed the most fruitful season domestically either. They are fourth in the standings, seven points behind leaders Milan.

“I knew that people would talk about a failure in case of elimination, but that’s intellectual dishonesty,” Allegri angrily told reporters when questioned about Juve’s campaign. “We are disappointed and we’ll make our assessments to improve the team. We do that every year. We also need to be realists. There are 10 teams in Europe superior to Juventus. It’s no shame, it’s a fact.

“I agree that we had to qualify today, but it was not easy. It’s useless to talk now, we must remain quiet, focus on the league and the Coppa Italia to see if we can take a trophy at home.”

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