Champions League hopes destroyed for Juventus

SERIE A giants Juventus were hit with a 10 ­ point deduction on Monday evening, May 22. The news was announced just before Juve’s away game at Empoli.

Prior to the ruling, the Italian club was sitting in second spot, although a massive 17 points behind this season’s champions Napoli. Removing the 10 points has now demoted them to seventh in the table and out of the European qualifying spots.

The decision by the Italian Football Federation was the result of an ongoing examination that had been carried out into the club’s transfer activities.

A 15 ­ point deduction that was originally handed down to the Bianconeri last January was subsequently overturned by the highest sporting court in Italy.

In a statement, Juventus said: “Juventus Football Club takes note of what has been decided by the FIGC Court of Appeal and reserves the right to read the reasons for assessing a possible appeal to the CONI Guarantee Board.”

It continued: “What was established by the judgement of the fifth instance in this matter started over a year ago, arouses great bitterness in the club and its millions of supporters who, in the absence of clear rules, find themselves extremely penalised with the application of sanctions that seem to take into0 account the principle of proportionality.

“Without ignoring the urgen ­ cy, which Juventus never avoided during the process, it is emphasised that these are facts that will still have to be evaluated by a judge,” it concluded.

Controversy has surrounded the club in the last 12 months. The entire board of directors, from the President Andrea Agnelli down, resigned last year.

Shortly after this, it was announced that Agnelli, and Fabio Paratici, who had become Tottenham’s Director of Football, could face criminal charges.