The Old Lady Speaks Podcast, Episode 91: Another Juventus UCL Round of 16 eulogy

We swear, we don’t like doing these kinds of episodes.

And since we’ve started this podcast in 2020, we’ve unfortunately had to do this kind of episode more than once.

But because Juventus keeps getting ousted from the Champions League at the same point over the last three seasons, we’ve been forced to do this kind of episode — again.

Juventus’ Champions League run for the 2021-22 season came to an end in the round of 16 once again, this time at the hands of Villarreal, the clear underdog because that’s what happens when Juve hits this stage of the game in recent years. The ditching of the away goals rule couldn’t save Juventus this time, even though it forced Max Allegri to play a little bit more than what he probably would have liked. Combine poor finishing in the first half with Villarreal manager Unai Emery beating Allegri at his own game.

It was bad.

It was whatever word you want to use.

It’s hard to disagree with that word if it’s got any sort of negative connotation to it.

Juventus’ European run is over after we all sat here in December thinking this is one of the better draws that could have happened. Instead, it’s another Champions League Round of 16 disappointment — which means we get to talk about something we don’t want to talk about yet again. How fun for us, right?

(Please note that this was recorded after Sunday’s win over Salernitana, so the recent news about Paulo Dybala’s contract extension not happening and his impending departure on a free transfer was not discussed. We will obviously talk about it a ton next week.)

On this week’s episode of The Old Lady Speaks, we discuss:

• Takeaways from the week that was — including somebody selectively forgetting to acknowledge what happened against Villarreal, how Juventus has fallen from the big players in the Champions League with another round of 16 exit and, in a way, how it doesn’t have to be this way if the front office had done a better job over the last few years.
• A deep dive into what happened against Villarreal.
• Like, a deep, deep dive.
• And some venting about things, maybe not just as a result of the Villarreal loss.
• Where does Juventus go from here after another Champions League Round of 16 exit?
• Taking a look at recent reports that said Juventus may nor may not have agreed to a deal with Chelsea defender and soon-to-be free agent Antonio Rüdiger.
• Twitter questions! Including ones on how Andrea Agnelli might have been feeling after the Villarreal loss, if Daniele Rugani’s penalty never happened would have changed anything Wednesday night, how the heck do we fix Juventus’ mental state and if Matthijs de Ligt’s last-ditch diving attempt to block a shot was actually somewhat innovative.

You can listen to Episode 91 of The Old Lady Speaks here:

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