Juventus run no risks, come out of UCL league phase finale in 13th

Both teams got what they needed in a game that was largely exempt from the chaos of the last game of the league phase.

Yes, Juventus had an outside chance to get into the top eight as the final day of the Champions League league phase dawned on Wednesday night. But it was a very outside chance. Juve needed to win, and they needed any six out of a possible nine results to go their way in the chaos of the 17 other games on the docket.

Since they had no control of their own destiny, it made sense that the Bianconeri didn’t go balls to the wall to beat Monaco at the Stade Louis II. They rotated the squad, and they never showed a whole lot of urgency. For that matter, neither did Monaco, who came into the day barely in the top 24 and needing a win, or a draw and some help, to stay in the competition. Given their situation, they were surprisingly languid, although that might’ve also been a product of a massive injury list that included Paul Pogba, because of course it did.

Ultimately, neither team did anything to secure a victory, but neither did they meet with catastrophe after playing out a goalless draw. Juve actually moved up two places to 13th, moving into a slightly better pod for Friday’s draw. Monaco got the results they needed to finish 23rd, slinking into the competition just ahead of Ligue 1 rivals Marseille, who were eliminated when Benfica’s goalkeeper scored a diving header on the last kick of the game against a nine-man Real Madrid. (Seriously, if you haven’t seen it check it out. It’s madness.)

As for Juve, the labyrinthine set of circumstances for them to jump into the top eight did in fact exist at halftime, and Luciano Spalletti made moves in the second half that looked like he would put effort into chasing the game. But the attitude didn’t change too much — which was just as well, as by the midway point in the second half it was clear that the dice weren’t going to come up Juve’s way for the top eight.

At the end of the day, Juve went through the game with minimal expenditure of energy, no one pushing the yellow card threshold got booked, and no one got injured. Given the situation, that’s probably as good result as you could hope for.