Juventus suffered their heaviest defeat ever in the Champions League as they surrendered the top spot in Group H by losing 4-0 to Chelsea on Tuesday night.
Miles away from their homeland, the Bianconeri got flabbergasted by an assertive Chelsea display. If truth be told, the club from Turin did not stand a chance against the London outfit after conceding the first goal of the night.
As a result, Juve stand second in the points table of their respective group, having amassed 12 points from five games. On the other hand, Chelsea do have the same number of points. However, they now top the group thanks to the 4-1 aggregate scoreline over the Old Lady.
On Tuesday evening, Trevoh Chalobah drew first blood in the first half. In front of the overwhelming Chelsea crowd, Reece James netted the second with a blasted volley. The goals from Callum Hudson-Odoi and Timo Werner heaped more misery on Massimiliano Allegri’s shoulders. In all, it proved to be an ominous night in London for the club from Italy.
Here are the three key takeaways from the game.
3. A reality check for Juventus or just a fluke?
When these two teams met in September, Chelsea ultimately got outwitted by Allegri as Federico Chiesa caught the Blues backline by surprise at the start of the second half to hand Juventus a 1-0 win. However, that triumph was made possible by stout Bianconeri defending.
On Tuesday, Allegri tried to approach the game in the same way – defending deep and hitting Chelsea on the counter. He did not take chances with the fitness of Paulo Dybala, who had just returned from a calf injury. There was no Danilo either in the starting XI for Juve, and his absence proved costly down Juve’s right.
McKennie got the odd break and did well in the game up until a certain point. He was tasked with marking the runs of Ben Chilwell, while Juan Cuadrado’s assignment was the effusive Hudson-Odoi, who dominated the duel and scored Chelsea’s third.
The major turnaround in the game happened after Chelsea had conceded the first goal via a Trevoh Chalobah volley in the 25th minute of the match. Before the goal, there was chaos on the pitch, more so around Juventus’ defensive half. Chelsea showed more intent and conjured up smarter ideas while endeavouring to penetrate the Juve defence.
If stats are taken under consideration, Chelsea secured 21 shots to the counterparts’ eight on the night. It was as if Juventus, despite winning the home leg in September, were eventually met with a reality check on Tuesday night. This was no fluke. This result was coming.