In the Champions League Final of 2017, Juventus lost 4-1 to Real Madrid. Juve held Madrid 1-1 in but granted three goals without a response in the second half.
“It was 1-1, but then it ended dramatically,” said Giorgio Chiellini, in an excerpt from his new autobiography, ‘Io, Giorgio’.
“There’s been a lot of talk about Cardiff in the famous Champions League Final defeat to Real Madrid,” wrote the 35-year-old. Now, Chiellini denied thinking of a bust-up but remarked how ‘finals still came too late for us.’
The defender maintained that his teammates were only ‘tired’:
“Well, nothing strange happened. We were just tired. Nothing sensational happened at half-time. No-one fought.
“We lost because we were exhausted. Finals always come too late for us. We were extremely tired after the first half, Mandzukic was unable to walk and Pjanic the same.
“Both of them had their knees treated while the coach talked to us. We were short of breath so we tried to egg each other on.”
In the midst of speculation, Chiellini also confirmed that the team had argued in the dressing room at half-time.
