Ciro Ferrara may be smiling in this file photo but he really is a man underseige. Juventus were thrashed 4-1 last night at home by Bayern Munich to end their hopes of progressing to the knock-out stages.
I am still finding it hard to believe that one of the biggest clubs in Europe can suffer such an embarassing defeat in their own home stadium. Going into this match, both Juve and Bayern Munich needed a win to keep them in the competition.
Juventus were coming off a big victory in the Serie A after beating their rivals and league leaders Inter Milan 2-1 in a thrilling derby d’Italia on Saturday night. Their coach Ciro Ferrara was hoping that his team could perhaps get a repeat performance against a Bayern Munich side that is slowing getting back to form.
Juventus were the first to open the scoring in the 19th minute when their injury riddled striker David Trezeguet got on the score sheet. This however was to be the only goal for Juventus as the hosts did hot provide a lot of chances in their attack.
Bayern Munich responded in the 30th minute with the most unlikely of people getting on the score sheet. Their own goalie Hans-Jorg Butt leveled from the penalty spot for his thrid career goal against Juventus. Bayern were still not done and in the 52nd minute, Ivica Olic got the goal that put the Bavarians in the lead.
Two goals in the dying minutes of the game from Mario Gomez and Anatoliy Tymoshchuk were enough to put Juventus out of their misery and give Bayern Munich a chances to fight for a 5th European Title.
Last night’s match capped Juve’s lukewarm approach to this season. The Turin outfit are 5 points of the pace in Serie A and just when they thought that things were getting better, they suffered a terrible defeat in the Champions League that sent them crashing out of the competition.
It will be very hard for Juve to try and win silverware this season. Their coach Ciro Ferrara is battling to stay on at the club amid mounting criticism and their players seem to have lost enthusiasm. Juve now turn their focus to the league and they will be hoping that they can win the scudetto to at least appease their fans.
