The Bianconeri can no longer access the round of 16, so they will be forced to go through the play-offs: the scenarios can vary from bogeymen to more manageable challenges
Let’s play a game. Starting from an almost arithmetic certainty: Juve will have to play in the Champions League playoffs in mid-February to access the round of 16. It is a scenario that will occur in 99.9% of cases. To be clear, in addition to a series of other results, the Bianconeri would have to lose 7-0 against Benfica in seven days to end up sensationally out of the Cup. The new formula of the top European competition includes a tennis scoreboard with a minimum draw, which therefore helps to identify the potential opponent (and the subsequent path up to the eventual final). Once the championship phase is over, the teams will be divided into pairs depending on their placement (9-10, 11-12, etc., up to 23-24) and the draw on January 31st will establish the pairing in the playoffs, which can be 9-23 and 10-24 or 9-24 and 10-23 and so on.
the most probable scenario
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Remember the rules, let’s try to play our game. Starting from an assumption: we hypothesized that the last remaining matches of the 7th day and those of the 8th will go according to prediction. So, successes for Sporting Lisbon, Real Madrid, Inter, Arsenal, Celtic, Bayern Munich and Milan and draws in Shakhtar-Brest and PSG-Manchester City in tonight’s matches. And then on the last day, victories by Sporting Lisbon, Psg, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Inter, Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona, Bayer Leverkusen, Milan, Atletico Madrid, Aston Villa, Ajax and Real Madrid and draws between Psv and Liverpool, Juve and Benfica and Lille and Feyenoord. If it (really) ended like this, Motta’s Bianconeri would be in 16th place, exactly in the middle of the table, with 13 points, ahead of Monaco on goal difference. This scenario would pit Juve and Lille (fifteenth) against one of the seventeenth (Monaco) or the eighteenth (Manchester City): it would then be the draw that would determine whether the Juventus players would have the challenge of the former Zakaria or the rematch of the big match won in December against Guardiola.
what changes by winning or losing
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But what would happen if, assuming that the other hypothesized results remain unchanged, Juve won against Benfica? The Bianconeri would fly to twelfth place and play against Borussia Dortumd (eleventh) in the pairing established by the draw with PSG (twenty-first) or Feyenoord (twenty-second). And what if, finally, Motta fell at home against the Portuguese? We could find ourselves playing a derby in the playoffs. Juve, in fact, would finish the championship phase in twentieth place and, together with PSV (nineteenth), could face one of Atalanta (thirteenth) and Brest (fourteenth).
Gazzetta dello Sport
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