Top 5 Worst Juventus Performances In Europe

5) CDNA Sofia 4-1 Juventus – 1960

Possessing the brilliant trident of John Charles, Omar Sivori and Giampiero Boniperti (pictured below), Juventus were one of the favourites for the 1960/61 European Cup but they were dumped out in the preliminary round by unfancied Bulgarians CDNA Sofia.

Juventus won the first leg in Turin 2-0, but were then thrashed 4-1 away from home following a sorry display. Nikola Kovachev, who passed away just two weeks ago, scored two of the goals for Sofia.


4) Juventus 0-3 Manchester United – 2003

In the Champions League second group stages of 2002/03, eventual finalists Juventus hosted Manchester United in the fourth game of the pool. The Red Devils were already virtually through to the quarter finals, while Juve were fighting for qualification.

Marcello Lippi’s men would then produce their worst performance of the season, as Ryan Giggs scored twice in an easy away win. The embarrassment was complete when Sir Alex Ferguson offered a run out to rookie Danny Pugh, and Gary Neville hilariously almost chipped the world’s best goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.


3) Napoli 3-0 Juventus – 1989

Juventus seemed almost certain to progress through to the semi finals of the UEFA Cup after beating Napoli 2-0 at home in their quarter final first leg.

However, they had a shock in store for them in the return at the Stadio San Paolo as the partisan crowd drove the Azzurri to a famous comeback after extra time. A disputed Diego Maradona penalty, Andrea Carnevale thunderbolt and Alessandro Renica header did the damage. Napoli would go on to win the cup.


2) Celta Vigo 4-0 Juventus – 2000

Juventus’ great team from the mid-1990s that had reached three successive Champions League finals had started to break up, and the early part of the new millennium was a transitional phase.

Never was this more evident than during the UEFA Cup fourth round tie with Celta Vigo in 2000. Despite winning the first leg in Turin, coach Carlo Ancelotti saw his team unceremoniously crushed 4-0 in the return in Spain. French legend Claude Makelele got the ball rolling with the first after just 27 seconds.


1) Juventus 1-4 Bayern Munich - 2009

And so to No.1 – last night’s drubbing at the hands of Bayern Munich at the Stadio Olimpico. Ciro Ferrara’s men only needed a draw in order to qualify for the Champions League knockouts at Bayern’s expense.

But, despite taking an early lead through David Trezeguet, they were outplayed by the Germans from start to finish. Bayern dominated every area of the pitch, They had 60 per cent of possession, 16 shots to Juve’s five, and 11 corners to two. It was no surprise that Die Roten ran out 4-1 winners with the goals coming from Hans-Jorg Butt (pen), Ivica Olic, Mario Gómez and Anatoliy Tymoshchuk.


Carlo Garganese, Goal.com