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Is Juve missing out on Champions League football
Juventus, are in a deep crisis of form. The old ladies confidence couldn’t match up with their display as they drew 1-1 with Fiorentina on Sunday – falling behind to the 14th places opponents before equalising with their only shot on target. Andrea Pirlo’s team once again looked a muddle, with nobody pushing on from midfield and the team’s notional centre-forward, Paulo Dybala, crowding things up further with his insistence on dropping deep. Cristiano Ronaldo cut a sullen figure once more on the left of attack.
Paratici has once time and again stated Juventus wants to stick with Andrea Pirlo, meanwhile Andrea Agnelli has also insisted he has no regrets over the appointment, however for the first time since he took over, Pirlo has showed signs he may give up on his job.
“I don’t think I have done this work as I wanted to, or as everyone wanted me to. You try to get better every match, but from our initial prospects I am not happy and I don’t think the club is happy.”
It has been dark days for Juve, for whom the collapse of the Super League project has been paralleled by a collapse in the standings. They did beat up on lower ranked Parma in midweek, but a defeat by Atalanta before that means the club have not only moved ahead but also hold the tie-breaker should they finish level on points at the end of the campaign.
To miss out on the Champions League would be hugely damaging. As the football finance blogger Swiss Ramble notes this excellent threas, Juventus and Milan were the two Super League clubs with the greatest operating losses last season if you exclude player sales. They have arguably the toughest run-ins of the teams vying for the top four, including a game against each other.
It remains to be seen whether Ronaldo will be happy to see out the final year of his contract under any scenario, but certainly it is hard to imagine him staying, at 36, to play in the Europa League. When Paratici was asked about the player’s future last month, he dismissed it as ridiculous saying: “I could never have imagined putting Cristiano Ronaldo up for discussion.”
The football news cycle, though, is moving faster than ever. It was only yesterday that the thought of Juventus missing out on the Champions League seemed impossible as well.
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