To say Juventus feels a bit stung by Manchester United’s smash-and-grab in Turin is an understatement.
The hosts were in control of the match for most of the 90 minutes, going ahead through a sensational Cristiano Ronaldo goal in the 65th minute.
[ MORE: Recap | Mourinho reaction ]
But substitute Juan Mata curled a delightful free kick past Juve keeper Wojciech Szczesny, and the Italians bungled a late Ashley Young effort for an own goal in a 2-1 loss, their first at home in a group stage match since 2009.
All told, Juve out-attempted United 21-9, with both clubs registered three shots on target.“Manchester United did nothing to win the game,” Ronaldo said. “You can’t even talk about luck, because you have to find your own luck and in this case we just gifted it to them.
“Now we’ve got to lift our heads, as we played really well and are still top of the group. ... Manchester didn’t do much, they had two chances on set pieces. I know English teams are always looking for set pieces.”
One of Ronaldo’s defenders, Giorgio Chiellini, sounded equally unimpressed.
“We had been in total control, but were very wasteful and forgot the details, because we knew where Manchester United could be dangerous,” said Chiellini. “If we’re going to lose Champions League games like this, it’s best we do it now rather than later on.”
Manager Max Allegri shared similar thoughts, adding that he felt the loss was okay because it was “the least important game” of the group stage.
That’s still a bit weird, considering the away game at United would’ve traditionally been viewed as such (although they did have that win in pocket when Allegri made his comments). From Football-Italia.net:
“I think it’ll do us good in the long run, as we need to learn not to fall asleep in these situations. I saw Manchester United play the same way in the Premier League at the weekend, they did very little for 80 minutes and then won in very similar circumstances.”