Del Neri unperturbed by Europa exit

Juventus may be out of this season’s Europa League, but manager Luigi Del Neri refuses to see the campaign as a failure.

The Italians cannot finish higher than third in Group A, with Manchester City and Polish side Lech Poznan already guaranteed to qualify for the knockout stages with one group match remaining.

Juventus have drawn all five of their group stage matches heading into Thursday’s final fixture against Manchester City, but Del Neri refused to criticise his team.

“We can say that it’s a failure, since we haven’t qualified, but I don’t agree when people say that Italian football at European level has been downgraded,” Del Neri said.

“Juventus are out, but we are not diminished.”

“I’d also say that Juventus has never been defeated. We haven’t won, but haven’t been defeated either.”

“We should have the same level as far as the European performances are concerned. I won’t be talking about failure.”

Del Neri also believes the experience of playing in Europe will benefit his younger players ahead of a likely return to the Champions League next season.

“It’s not useless. I’m not talking about uselessness. I’m talking about the benefit of seeing players who play less often and are still part of Juventus.”

“It’s very useful to face teams with important players such as Manchester City.”

“This helps to understand our European matches in a different way. Each European match gives us a certain experience, no matter what the result may be.”