Juve´s Szczesny: Chelsea hammering unacceptable

Wojciech Szczesny said Juventus’ performance in a 4-0 Champions League thrashing at the hands of titleholders Chelsea was “unacceptable”.

Chelsea cruised into the round of 16 and replaced Juve, who had already qualified, at the top of Group H by hammering Massimiliano Allegri’s side at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday.

Trevoh Chalobah opened the scoring in the first half with a controversial goal after Antonio Rudiger appeared to handle the ball in the penalty area.

The Premier League leaders ran riot after the break, the outstanding Reece James, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Timo Werner consigning the Bianconeri to their heaviest Champions League defeat.

Juve had not lost by a four-goal margin in any competition since they were subjected to a 4-0 drubbing by Serie A rivals Roma in February 2004.

4 – Juventus have lost a game with a margin of 4+ goals considering all competitions for their first time since February 2004, against AS Roma in Serie A (0-4). KO.#ChelseaJuve pic.twitter.com/swqPehjyvp

— OptaPaolo  (@OptaPaolo) November 23, 2021

It was a busy night for Juve goalkeeper Szczesny, who stressed the Turin giants must not dwell on a painful evening in London.

“We were low and passive, it’s a defeat that is difficult to explain, unacceptable, but we must forget [about it and] go on. Saturday is a difficult match against Atalanta,” he told Mediaset.

“It is very important to have a match right away [after the Chelsea loss], so we have the opportunity to respond. After tonight there will be a lot of deserved criticism and on Saturday we will have to respond on the pitch.

“We saw a clear difference between us and Chelsea. We did very well in the first game [against Chelsea], but today we played below our level, they were at their level and we saw the difference.”

Leonardo Bonucci said Juve must learn from being outplayed by Thomas Tuchel’s in-form Chelsea.

“It’s a heavy defeat, certainly, we have to take the lesson that against these teams you must always go at 1,000 kilometres per hour, because the moment you slow it down, they punish you,” the stand-in captain told Sky Sport Italia and Sport Mediaset.

“It is important we learn the lessons from this game, which is that against these teams, you cannot lower the intensity or concentration for a moment.

“We conceded the first goal from a corner, it might’ve been handball. We should’ve controlled it better in the second half, as they caused us so many problems.”