Juventus are on the brink

DBasia.news – The fate of Juventus in the Champions League is increasingly on the brink after being surprised by Maccabi Haifa at the Sammy Ofer Stadium.

With superior status against the Israeli keroco, Massimiliano Allegri’s troops actually lost class on all fronts. Especially the first half, Haifa put on a stunning performance where Omer Atzili was able to score twice against Wojciech Szczesny.

Now Juventus are in danger of not qualifying for the round of 16 after only being able to collect three points from four matches, four points adrift of PSG and Benfica who will go head to head on Wednesday (13/10).

The home team were able to take the lead over Juventus in the seventh minute after applying pressure at the start of the match. Pierre Cornud stabbed down the left before curling a cross into the middle. Omer Atzili had his back to the goal, but he found the ball at the far post, which Wojciech Szczesny couldn’t reach.

Atzili doubled Haifa’s lead and put Juve further down three minutes before the break. Juan Cuadrado lost the ball and Frantzdy Pierrot carried it all the way to the front of the box from midfield. He passed an unmarked Atzili down the right, and rounded Szczesny with a sharp strike into the top corner of the near post, the Bianconeri trailing 2-0 to Haifa!

The score did not change in the second half, and this was the first time Juventus had lost three times in the first four matches of the Champions League group stage.

Now Allegri’s troops face a fierce battle that is almost impossible to qualify for the UCL knockout stages. PSG and Benfica both need just three points to advance to the knockout stages, and they still haven’t faced Maccabi Haifa so the chances of winning are still wide open.

Lineup

Maccabi Haifa (4-3-3): Josh Cohen; Daniel Sundgren, Dylan Batubinsika, Sean Goldberg, Pierre Cornud; Neta Lavi, Ali Muhammad, Tjaronn Chery; Omer Atzili, Frantzdy Pierrot, Dean David.

Juventus (4-4-2): Wojciech Szczesny; Danilo, Leonardo Bonucci, Daniele Rugani, Alex Sandro; Juan Cuadrado, Leandro Paredes, Adrien Rabiot, Weston McKennie; Angel Di Maria, Dusan Vlahovic.