Villarreal humiliate Juventus to make Champions League quarters

(From L) Juventus’ Argentine forward Paulo Dybala, Juventus’ Italian goalkeeper Mattia Perin, Juventus’ Spanish forward Alvaro Morata and Juventus’ Italian midfielder Manuel Locatelli react at the end of the UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg football match between Juventus and Villareal on March 16, 2022 at the Juventus stadium in Turin. Marco BERTORELLO / AFP

Villarreal reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League on Wednesday after inflicting a humiliating 3-0 defeat on Juventus in Turin to go through 4-1 on aggregate.

Penalties from Gerard Moreno and Arnaut Danjuma and Pau Torres’s tap-in in the final quarter of an hour were enough for Unai Emery’s well-organised side to see off the Italians at the Allianz Stadium and make Friday’s last-eight draw.

“It’s a magical night,” said Moreno to Movistar+.

“We thought we could do it, we’ve always shown that in the big games we compete, the team gives its best… we all want to be in there with the best in Europe, we’re going to keep dreaming and we’re going to do it together.”

Europa League holders Villarreal stunned Juve with three sucker punches after spending most of the match on the back foot, content to hold off the hosts’ attacks which got less potent as the match wore on.

An embarrassing loss was just Juve’s second since the end of November and punctures a dogged run of form which has put them back into the league title race at home.

Massimiliano Allegri’s side were loudly booed off by the home crowd who watched their team shrink from a promising start and bounce off a yellow wall before being bundled out of the competition.

Italy are now without a single representative in this season’s Champions League as it moves into its latter stages, as a cynical, clinical