Juventus knock Barcelona out of Champions League
Barcelona missed the chance to equal a Champions League record when they crashed out of the competition at the hands of Juventus.
Barcelona hosts Juventus today [Thursday, 2:45am], needing to overturn a 3-0 defeat from the first leg to advance to the semifinals of Europe’s top-tier tournament.
The match will be played at Barcelona’s Nou Camp.
“Those who experienced the night against PSG at Camp Nou will have another chance to enjoy a historic evening”, Enrique said.
Barca will have little time to mourn their Champions League exit as they visit arch-rivals Real Madrid on Sunday in a potential title-deciding Clasico.
“Considering all the games leading up to this, including PSG, we knew that we had to be solid”. “Barca have a team built to compete, to win trophies and to face every challenge”.
But Juve, who had conceded only two goals in nine Champions League matches this season before Wednesday night, proved far more disciplined at the back.
“We had a lot of shots on goal but only had one on target”.
“We have nothing to lose, we have no pressure because Juventus have nearly qualified to the semifinals”, he told reporters at his pre-match press conference today. Juventus have not lost by three clear goals since January 2011, and they haven’t lost by the four-goal margin that would send the Blaugrana through in regular time since 2004 when they visited Roma and were promptly put to the sword by the tandem of Francesco Totti and Antonio Cassano. There were certain periods, particularly in defence, when we showed we’re a real team’. “My players were extraordinary tonight”.
“(On Wednesday) we have to compete at the level needed to go through.
“Overall they were the better team and deserved to go through”, he told BeIN Sports Spain. Nonetheless, we still created several chances and it was hard to approach it any other way in the circumstances. “It wasn’t to be”. Luis Enrique noted the part played by pressure and refused to answer when he was asked about Dybala’s partner, Gonzalo Higuaín., excusing himself by saying “Now’s not the day to motivate him or to build up their players; ask me another time and I’d be delighted to respond”.
“That the fans were still singing needs to be remembered”.
Max Allegri has his Juventus side set up ready to counter attack Barcelona Where can I watch Barcelona vs Juventus?
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