How Much Juventus’ Defeat To Atlético Madrid Cost Them

How Much Juventus' Defeat To Atlético Madrid Cost Them. Image: PA Images
How Much Juventus’ Defeat To Atlético Madrid Cost Them. Image: PA Images

Juventus’ 2-0 loss to Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night was a blow to their aspirations to win the UEFA Champions League but the loss also cost the Italian champions over £100 million.

Concise News reports that Nottingham Forest and Juventus have something in common. They have both been crowned champions of Europe on two occasions. For one of the sides, that is a massive achievement and for the Italians, it is an underachievement.

Juve have had seven other opportunities to win the European Cup or Champions League having been in seven finals that they have failed to win. Meanwhile, they have not won the competition since 1996, with five of their losses coming since.

Last summer the Old Lady decided to spend around £90 million to add Cristiano Ronaldo to their rank. The ex-Real Madrid man has won the competition five times, with two clubs, including the previous three seasons and it was obvious he was brought in to help bring the trophy to Turin.

So far though, Ronaldo has failed to hit form for the Italians in Europe, scoring just one goal (against his former club, Manchester United). And on Wednesday night, they were beaten 2-0 in the first leg of the last 16 by Atletico Madrid, making it very difficult task for them – against a very defensive Diego Simeone side – to get through to the quarterfinals.

If that seemed like a big enough blow then it gets worse. The loss saw them drop 11.11% in the stock market. With Forbes’ last valuation of the club at £1,127 million that means their valuation dropped more than £100 million.

After Ronaldo signed last summer the club saw a huge upturn in fortunes as the shares rose by up to 95% after the signing was confirmed.

The former Manchester United winger has started very well in Serie A and bagged himself 19 goals and eight assists in just 24 games. He currently sits top of the goalscoring chart. Apparently, Juve look likely to win the league for the eighth consecutive year.

Manager Massimiliano Allegri came under fire for his tactics, with Atleti the much better side – specifically in the second half. However, the Italian was in bullish mood for the second leg, saying, “The second half was ugly, as we made the mistake of following their lead. Atleti are very good at letting a game go by without a shot on goal.

“We had already run a risk on a counter from a ball we gave away, but we didn’t have a shot on target in the second half.

“Now we have the chance to turn this around, we must have faith, we’ll have some players back and there’s no point crying over spilt milk. We knew it was going to be tough, that Atletico Madrid force you to play badly, with a slow tempo. We moved the ball quicker in the first half, but not in the second.”

Time will tell if Juve can turn it around.

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