On Wednesday night, Juventus ended their Champions League group stage campaign on a miserable note, suffering defeat at the hands of Benfica.
The Portuguese were the superior side in the first half and took an early lead through Vangelis Pavlidis as the Old Lady’s makeshift defence couldn’t hold up. Thiago Motta’s men certainly improved in the second period, but they hardly managed to threaten Anatoliy Trubin’s goal. In fact, it was the Eagles who pounced on their opportunity to make it 2-0 in the late stages.
Therefore, the Bianconeri fell to the 20th spot and will enter the playoff round as an unseeded team, where they’ll take on either Milan or PSV Eindhoven.
After the contest, the official Juventus website provided us with the most interesting facts and stats registered in the aftermath.
The Bianconeri have lost for the first time at home in the Champions League by more than two goals since their 0-3 defeat to Villarreal in the second leg of the Round of 16 in March 2022.
Juve now have a miserable record against Portuguese opposition, succumbing to defeats in four of their last five meetings across all competitions.
On another note, Thiago Motta’s men launched 17 shots on Benfica’s target. The last time Juventus attempted this many shots without scoring in a Champions League fixture dates back to December 2015 when they tried 19 shots against Sevilla.
Prior to Vangelis Pavlidis who scored in the 16th minute, the last player to score within the first 20 minutes away against Juventus in the Champions League was Kylian Mbappe (13′) back in November 2022.
Finally, Weston McKennie became the seventh player to don the Juventus captain armband this season in an official fixture, that is more than any other Serie A club this season. The list includes Manuel Locatelli, Andrea Cambiaso, Federico Gatti and Danilo who has now left the club.
