Juventus fail to convince as pressure for European success grows

Jurgen Klopp recently labelled Juventus as the favourites to succeed his Liverpool side as winners of the Champions League, and Lionel Messi has also talked up the Italians' chances, but they looked nothing like contenders to lift the trophy as Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates fired blanks against Lyon on Wednesday.

Juve will have to come from behind in the second leg of their last-16 tie on March 17 after going down 1-0 in France as a first-half goal by Lucas Tousart separated the teams.

The French side were worthy winners, despite enduring a mediocre season in Ligue 1 and only just scraping through their group. They will be confident of scoring an away goal in Turin, too.

All the pressure is on the Serie A outfit. While their rivals talk them up, those within the club admit winning the competition is the major objective, although they have emphasised the importance of luck in the knockout phase.

"We are very lucky to be able to chase the Champions League dream, because if we achieve it, it will be bliss, and if we don't the journey will have been beautiful," insisted coach Maurizio Sarri on the eve of the Lyon game.

However, no Juventus supporter, or director, will agree with that if they do not improve on their performance in Lyon.

The Italian league leaders mustered just one attempt on target, with Ronaldo unable to continue the form that had seen him score in each of his first nine appearances of 2020, and bag 19 goals since the beginning of December.

He is 35 now, so Juve are in a hurry to win the Champions League with the Portugal star, who cost them 100 million euros ($109 million) from Real Madrid in 2018, not to mention his astronomical wages.

- No holding back -
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