This season was the second season, of the new format in European football, which added a round of 32 ties to Champions League football for teams that finish 9-24 in the league phase. In the Champions League 3 of the 4 teams finished in that zone with only Napoli, missing out finishing 30th.

Meanwhile, in the Europa league only Bologna finished in these places after a solid campaign saw them land 10th. Roma skipped this round all together by narrowly finishing in a top eight spot. The draw for both these tournaments have come out meaning each side will know who they will face.

Inter Milan – Bodo Glimt:

Inter Milan will face Bodo Glimt in the round of 32 of the Champions league. Bodo Glimt is one of the hardest places to travel too in the Champions League, but a win away is possible with Juventus doing it this season. Bodo Glimt are also capable of upsetting Europe’s top teams, having beat Atletico Madrid and Manchester City this season.

The first leg is also at a bid time for Inter, with them facing Juventus a few days before, in what should be a grueling match. However playing Lecce before the second leg should allow them to rest some key players. Inter and Bodo Glimt have only ever played twice in history, in 1978 with Inter winning both games.

Juventus – Galatasaray:

Juventus will face Galatasaray, in the round of 32 inbetween two tough Serie A fixtures. Juventus will play Inter the week before the first leg and Turkey. They will then host Como inbetween the two legs, no easy game considering they lost the reverse fixture to Como.

Galatasaray also won’t be a walkover Juventus being first in the Turkish Super Lig. Galatasaray also managed to beat rening Premier League champions, Liverpool this season in the Champions League. Juventus have played Galatasaray, three times with each time winning one game, and the other being a draw.

Atalanta – Borussia Dortmund:

Atalanta drew Borussia Dortmund in the round of 32 in a fixture, which will likely see them be the underdogs, despite being the higher seed. The La Dea will have a slight advantage as they earned the right to play the second leg of the tie in Bergamo. However, the Serie A schedule of Atalanta’s.

Atalanta will have to travel to the capital to play Lazio, before the first fixture which isn’t an easy game. In between the games, they will then have to host the Scudetto holders Napoli. Atalanta and Dortmund have faced twice, sharing one win each in their faceoffs.

Bologna – Brann:

Bologna is the second Serie A team to draw a Norwegian side, following Inter Milan. Bologna and Brann have already played this season, in a nil-nil draw in Bologna. This game was the only ever time the two teams faced off against each other, in their history.

The Rossoblu have the easiest run of games inbetween the two matches, facing Torino away and then Udinese at home, as soft fixture could help them advance through to the round of 16. Bologna still have the possibility of facing Roma in an all Italy clash in the next round if they should advance.

Juventus travelled to Monaco today, as they looked to move up the table, for a top spot in the Champions League. However, they wouldn’t manage to do themselves in the first half as Juventus couldn’t get on the scoreboard. Juventus started the game on the front foot but only managed four shots on goal.

This is because the game slowly shifted as the half went on, by about the 30th minute Monaco came in control, but before that Juventus were in charge. A lot of that came from Teun Koopmeiners, playing deeper in midfield then usual who controlled the game with class.

While having a little less possession in the first half, Juventus didn’t give up any goals. This is thanks to a strong defence mainly from Glieson Bremer, who took charge of Juventus’s defence once again. However, Juventus nearly conceded at the beginning of the game when Mattia Perin gave the ball away to Monaco, high up the pitch but they missed that chance.

The second half of the game was much the same, as both teams struggled to score, even as the game opened up more. Both teams had their share of chances but neither managed to score. Juventus especially pushed to score, as they had a chance of a top eight finish, which couldn’t come to fruition.

Juventus will only have themselves to blame as they blew a lot of half chances to score, the most of them came down to Andrea Cambiaso. Cambiaso was in some more bad form as he just looked lost in the tactics of Luciano Spalletti, and could have cost Juventus’s a goal.

Napoli hosted Chelsea in the last match day of the Champions League needing a win to stay in the tournament. The game wouldn’t start well for Napoli as Chelsea would dominate most of the early game. This lead to Chelsea winning a penalty in the 15th minute, after a handball from Juan Jesus.

However, Napoli wouldn’t be stopped for long, as Antonio Vergara scored for Napoli in the 33th minute. He spun Wesley Fofana and then finished nicely in the bottom corner past Robert Sanchez. Napoli wouldn’t stop there however as they wanted to take the lead to make it through the league phase.

It took only ten minutes for Rasmus Hojlund to score to give Napoli the lead. Mathias Oliveira sent in a low cross for Napoli, and Hojlund smashed it away to give the lead to Napoli. Napoli would go into the break with the lead, however Napoli wouldn’t manage to hold on for long.

Napoli where clearly tired by the 60th minute of the game, and couldn’t manage to compete with Chelsea. This lead to Joao Pedro, using his pace and finesse to tuck away two goals. The first one came in the 62nd minute to equalise for Chelsea, then he scored again 21 minutes later in the 82nd minute.

Napoli failed to earn a point today, and with others around them picking up points they dropped down the table. This lead them to finish 30th in the league phase, meaning that they are out of the competition. While this is a negative for Napoli, as they won’t advance to the knockouts, but the less games could be a positive for Napoli’s league campaign.