Juventus in the Champions League .. "Super failure"

The European failure of the Italian Juventus, which was eliminated early in the group stage in the Champions League in football, is a new blow to Andrea Agnelli, the dreamy president of the Super League, but who is immersed in sports, financial and judicial turmoil.

Agnelli is still campaigning, with Spain's Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​for a new special tournament among Europe's elite clubs that aims to topple the Champions League.

But the equivalent continental championship, the Europa League, is calling for Juventus at the moment, in the best case, in the event that it maintains a third place in a group that qualified for Paris Saint-Germain and Benfica of Portugal, as it equals the number of points with Maccabi Haifa of Israel (4), before a round at the end of the group stage.

The newspaper "Corriere Daily Sport" on Wednesday summarized "Juventus in Hell", in harmony with the Italian press, which pointed out the failure of "Bianconeri" (black and white), to occupy the runner-up, at least, behind Paris Saint-Germain.

With a new defeat against Benfica 3-4 on Tuesday, this elimination was expected after a disastrous track that witnessed four record losses in five Champions League matches.

An exclusion confirms the European decline of a club that has reached the final nine times and won twice, after being eliminated from the final price in the past three seasons against middleweight opponents such as Lyon of France, Porto of Portugal and Villarreal of Spain.

This is the first time that Juventus has been eliminated from the group stage since the 2013-2014 season.

"Who is paying the price?"

Despite the "disgrace" of losing against its host Maccabi Haifa (0-2) on October 11, Agnelli renewed his confidence in coach Massimiliano Allegri, who led the team to winning the "Serie A" league title between 2015 and 2019 and returning in 2021 after two short periods to Maurizio Sarri and then Andrea Pirlo.

The president adheres to the policy of not judging the coach before the season ends, as he did starting in 2010. But this has not reduced the level of criticism against Allegri, as his team is eighth in the league, ten points behind leaders Napoli.

Apart from the coach, the transfer strategy did not bring the hoped for, as French midfielder Paul Boga and Argentine Angel Di Maria were injured.

And if the price of abandoning Allegri will be high, given that it is linked to a contract until 2025, the media began to focus on the potential losses due to the current weak performance.

The elimination from the Champions League would amount to a missed profit of about 20 million euros, according to Calcio e Finanza.

As for the absence from the next edition, if the solutions among the top four fail this season, the "old lady" will be deprived of gains that may amount to seventy million euros, which he earned last season.

The headline of the newspaper "Totosport" criticizing "spend 175 million euros" annually on players and coach.

As the club aims to settle its financial accounts, it has faced negative numbers in the past five years and lost 225 million euros last season: a record deficit in Italian football.

Commit with the European Football Association (UEFA) to comply with the Financial Fair Play rules.

"False exchanges"

According to Quotidiano Sportivo, Juventus is paying the price of the "race with the giants", especially with the introduction of Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo (2018-2021) in a big deal that cast a shadow over the accounts.

The club had to be more creative to control its deficit.

Double the "false exchanges" of players, including transfers with other clubs, without financial exchange but allowing data improvement.

These practices were subject to investigation by the Italian judiciary.

In conclusions sent Monday to concerned people, including President Agnelli, the Turin Public Prosecutor estimated the "imaginary" figures at 155 million euros between 2018 and 2021, according to the media.

The club, whose shares are listed on the stock exchange, hid private contracts with players, including Ronaldo, from investors, to settle some deferred salaries.

On Tuesday, Juventus reiterated that, as the investigation was opened in 2021, it "acted in accordance with the laws and regulations governing the preparation of financial reports".

The judiciary must now decide whether to hold President Agnelli and other officials to account.

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