HAIFA (Reuters) -Juventus slumped to a 2-0 defeat against a Maccabi Haifa side who won their first Champions League game for 20 years as Omer Atzili’s double helped the Israelis to a famous victory at a rocking Sammy Ofer Stadium on Tuesday.
The result leaves third-placed Juve’s chances of qualifying for the knockout stages hanging by a thread with the top two teams in Group H — Paris St Germain and Benfica — four points ahead before they play each other later on Tuesday.
Juve had never lost three of their first four matches in the group stage before but the win was well deserved for a buzzing Haifa team that played with a lot of energy — a stark contrast to the Italians who were second best.
Although the loss puts more pressure on Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri, with his side also struggling in Serie A where they are eighth, the club’s president Andrea Agnelli said the coach’s job was not under threat.
“Today is a difficult evening … I feel ashamed for what is happening, I am angry,” Agnelli told Sky Sport.
“Allegri will stay at least until the end of the season… It’s not the coach’s fault that we can’t even make a tackle. In this kind of situation you can’t blame one single person, it’s the whole group.”
Haifa had the perfect start, taking the lead in the seventh minute when winger Atzili headed home Pierre Cornud’s cross, which left Juve goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny scrambling on the goal line as he failed to keep the ball out.
Five minutes later Tjaronn Chery’s free kick came off the bar before Szczesny was forced into another diving save from long range as the visitors struggled to impose themselves on a team they beat 3-1 in the reverse fixture.
Juve’s worries were compounded when they lost Angel Di Maria to injury yet again, with the Argentine winger clutching his hamstring before the half-hour mark before his withdrawal.
The home side continued to pile the pressure on and it paid off just before halftime when Atzili doubled the lead with a stinging strike to Szczesny’s near post which the Polish keeper got a hand to but could not keep out.
Juventus had their chances but were denied time and again in the final third while Maccabi’s American keeper Josh Cohen made a couple of fine saves to keep a clean sheet.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Davis and Ken Ferris)
