Five ways in which Giorgio Chiellini’s injury impacts Juventus

More European Suffering

Last season, Juventus was picked as one of the favorites to win the Champions League, but ended up making a disappointing quarterfinal exit against Ajax. It continued a run of European disappointment that has lasted for more than 2 decades and showed that Juventus needed to make some major improvements if they finally hoped to claim the Champions League trophy once again.

They made some impressive moves during this summer’s transfer window to try to get themselves back into the conversation as a real contender for that trophy. Unfortunately, now it looks like those moves might not end up meaning much this season.

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The competition to win their 3rd Champions League trophy hasn’t looked this daunting in quite some time. The defending champions, Liverpool, remain as dangerous as ever. They kept their whole lineup intact over the summer and are already leading the Premier League as the only team to win their first 3 matches.

Barcelona was within reach of the final last year before blowing their lead in the second leg against the eventual champions. Now they’ve added Antoine Griezmann and Frankie de Jong to a lineup that was already going to be favored to win the Champions League this year. Bayern Munich added Benjamin Pavard, Lucas Hernandez, Ivan Perisic, and Phillipe Coutinho.

Real Madrid brought in Ferland Mendy, Eden Hazard, and Luka Jovic. Manchester City added Rodri and Joao Cancelo. Meanwhile, Juve’s summer now essentially comes down to the additions of Aaron Ramsey (who isn’t ready to play yet) and Adrien Rabiot, while swapping Chiellini for Matthijs de Ligt and selling Joao Cancelo to replace him with Danilo. One of those transfers windows doesn’t quite belong with the rest of them and it’s Juve’s.

As the lineup stands right now, Juventus barely seems like they belong in the top 5 favorites to win the Champions League this season. There is always the chance that they outperform the level of talent available to them, but it really seems unlikely that Juventus will be able to overcome the loss of Chiellini and bring home the long-awaited Champions League trophy.