Juventus knocked out of the Champions League in group stages

Italian giants Juventus are no longer in the 2022 Champions League after they fell to a 4-3 defeat against Benfica.

It has been a European campaign to forget for Massimiliano Allegri's side, who sit third in Group H with one win in five games.

The Old Lady managed to pick up a 3-1 win against bottom-of-the-group Maccabi Haifa in the opening week of October but apart from that, they have massively underachieved in games against Paris Saint-Germain and Benfica.

And on Tuesday night, the Portuguese outfit put their opponents to the sword at a capacity Estadio da Luz, as goals from Antonio Silva, Joao Mario and Rafa Silva [2] sealed Juventus' fate.

At one stage, Juve were 4-1 down after a slow start to proceedings but goals from Arkadiusz Milik and Weston McKennie clawed back at least some pride for the away side, who look a shadow of their former self.

Away from the Champions League and the Italian outfit have struggled throughout this campaign. They currently sit in eighth place in Serie A after picking up just five wins in 11 games.

In fact, despite the summer signing of Paul Pogba, amongst others, they are 10 points behind league leaders Napoli at the time of writing.

Juve did, however, manage to ease some pressure on under-fire manager Allegri at the weekend with a 4-0 win against Empoli.

Image credit: Alamy

Allegri's uncertain future continues to be a discussion point in the media. Rumours continue to swirl surrounding a possible move for Antonio Conte, who is currently in charge of Premier League outfit Spurs.

Fabio Capello, meanwhile, believes the current Juve boss is no longer the top manager in Italy.

The former England boss said via Calciomercato: “Allegri is lagging behind Sarri, Spalletti and Mourinho, who are proving their worth after a year.”

Thoughts on Juve's season so far? Let us know in the comments.