Juventus didn’t have a very auspicious first experience with the European Cup. It won its opening match 3-1 against the Wiener Sportclub but would go on to lose the match in Vienna 7-0 to go out 8-3 on aggregate. Two years later the same thing happened. Juventus won its opening leg 2-0 against CSKA Sofia but would lose the return leg 4-1 to be bundled out 4-3.
The following year, Juventus had the advantage of playing away first. It drew 1-1 with Panathinaikos and then won the match in Turin 2-1 to finally advance to the next round. It was on a roll and after defeating Patizan Belgrade 2-1 away made up for all of its drubbings with a 5-0 win of its own. Now in the quarter finals, Juventus was drawn to play the mighty Real Madrid. The two sides traded 1-0 wins and so a play-off was needed to separate the two. With its extra experience, Real prevailed winning 3-1 in Paris.
After a big of a break, Juventus returned to the competition in 1967/68. Again it was first-up against a Greek side. It drew 0-0 away with Olympiacos before winning 2-0 at home. It then made its way past Rapid Bucharest and Eintracht Braunschweig to reach the semi-finals for the first ever time. Against the Germans it needed a playoff in Berne to make it through after the tie had been level 3-3. In the final four, Juventus was up against Benfica who were the two time winners of the competition. The Portuguese had too much experience and won 2-0 in Lisbon before winning 1-0 in Turin.
It was five years before Juventus would be back. In the time, it had undergone a change in personnel and it was the dawn of a new era. It opened the tournament with a good 3-1 won over Marseille and followed it up with a 2-0 victory against the East German Magdeburg. After drawing 0-0 at home with Hungarian side Újpest FC in the first leg of the quarter-finals, it drew 2-2 away and advanced through on away goals.
It faced Derby in the semi-finals and won 3-1 to make it to its first ever Champions League final. There was some controversy about the refereeing here but then no-one knew about the Calciopoli.
It was up against in it Belgrade having to face an Ajax side who were trying to become just the second team after Real Madrid to win the European Cup on three straight occasions. The Juventus side featured the likes of Dino Zoff and Fabio Capello. A fourth minute Johnny Rep goal remained the only goal of the match.
The following year, Juventus were gone in the first round – bounced 4-3 by Dynamo Dresden.
German sides were proving to be the bane of Juventus when two years later, Borussia Mönchengladbach knocked it out.
In 1977-78, Juventus has a kinder draw. It defeated Cypriot side Omonia 5-0 before going one better against the Northern Irish Glentoran. In the quarter-finals it was able to exact some revenge over Ajax defeating it in a penalty-shootout after the tie had been level at 2-2. In the semi-finals it won 1-0 at home over Club Brugge but lost 2-0 away in the return leg.
Juventus took the loss to the Belgians hard and the following year was eliminated in the first round by Rangers. A 1-0 win at home was followed by a 2-0 loss away.
There would be revenge for Juventus a few years later when the same thing happened against Celtic. Celtic won 1-0 at home before Juventus would win 2-0 at home. It didn’t matter though as Anderlecht overpowered the Italians in the second round.
In 1982-83, Juventus made it to the last eight after wins over Hvidovre and Standard Liege. In the quarter-finals, Juventus hammered defending champion, Aston Villa to make it back to the semi-finals. It defeated Widzew Łódź to be back in the final. The decider was in Athens against Hamburg. Dino Zoff was still there but in Michel Platini and, Zbigniew Boniek Juventus has some world class superstars. Juventus also had the World Cup winners of Claudio Gentile, Paolo Rossi, Marco Tardelli, Antonio Cabrini and Gaetano Scirea. Again it was an early goal which would prove Juventus’ undoing. An eighth minute goal to Felix Magath was the only goal of the match.
Two years later, Juventus would achieve the success it had always wanted but not in the circumstances. Everything looked to be going smoothly after wins against Illves and Grasshopper put in into the last eight. A 3-1 win over Sparta Prague followed and Juventus was back in the final when it defeated Bordeaux 3-2 in the semi-final.
The Final was to be at Heysel against defending champion, Liverpool. Four time winners of the competition, Liverpool were the biggest club side in the world. There was a lot of excitement and anticipation about this game. Unfortunately the game would be overshadowed by horrific events. A scuffle between the two sets of fans saw a wall collapse – 39 fans were killed and hundreds more were injured. Although it was suggested that it be postponed, the match went ahead although no-one’s heart was ever in it. Michel Platini’s 56th minute penalty was the winner.
Juventus began its title defence well with wins over Jeunesse Esch and Hellas Verona. It ran out of puff in the quarter-finals losing to Barcelona. The year after there was more Spanish pain for Juventus when Real Madrid knocked it out in the second round. It was also painful as it was via a penalty shoot-out.
A change of name brought a change of fortune as Juventus found out in the 1995/96 Champions League. It topped its group containing Borussia Dortumand, Steaua Bucharest and Rangers before advancing through to the knockout stage. There it eliminated old foe Real Madrid before getting by Nantes. The final was to be in Rome against old foe Ajax. This time, Juventus were the beneficiary of an early goal when Fabrizio Ravanelli opened the scoring in the 12th minute, but Jari Litmanen levelled it up just before half time. It stayed 1-1 until penalties. Edgar Davids and Sonny Silooy missed and not a single Juventus played did to give the Italians the trophy. Finally they could celebrate without feeling any remorse.
The defending champions were confident and topped their group the following year. After getting by Rosenborg and Ajax it was to defend its title in the final against Borussia Dortmund in Munich. Down 2-0, Juventus pulled one back via Alessandro Del Piero but that would be that. Another goal to Dortmund killed off Juventus’ hopes.
The following year, Juventus made it back to the final again and took on old sparring partner, Real Madrid in Amsterdam. Both sides were star-studded but Real scored in the 67th minute and that was that. The fire-power of Del Piero, Filippo Inzaghi, Zinedine Zidane and Didier Deschamps were all were held.
Should have made it to the final for a third year in a row but couldn’t fight a Manchester United side that seemed destined for the title. Juventus looked to be leaving Old Trafford with a 1-0 in the first leg of the semi final only for Ryan Giggs to score a late winner. Then in the return leg, Juventus was up 2-0 after just 11 minutes. United fought back and it was 2-2 at the half. They were up on away goals and sealed the win with another in the 84th minute.
2002-03 appeared to be its year when it got past both Barcelona and Real Madrid in the knockout rounds to meet Milan in the final. The final was at Old Trafford and was the first between two Italian sides. The match itself was a pretty dire affair and went to penalties after a 0-0 draw. Both sides were nervous and missed two of their first three shots. Milan didn’t miss again though and went on to win the trophy.
The following year it was knocked out in the Round of 16 by Deportivo La Coruna. Since then English sides haven’t been good for it and it has been knocked out Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea in recent years.