Juventus’ hopes of reaching the Europa league final were dealt a major blow after they were knocked at the semi-final stage after a 2-1 aggregate loss at the hands of Benfica. The first leg finished as a 2-1 win for the Portuguese outfit. This was followed by a 0-0 draw in Turin. Juventus were especially looking forward to reaching the final since it would be at their home patch. However, they are unable to find the crucial opening goal in the second leg and it finished as a draw.

After the match, Antonio Conte was highly displeased with the officials as they failed to stop the incessant time wasting from the opposition. He said that Benfica took a long time to restart the play at every opportunity. This meant that the rhythm of Juventus was broken just when it seemed that they would get the goal. Just one goal was enough for Juventus to reach the finals, as it would have put them through on away goals rule. Juventus were playing to reach the final where they could have met Sevilla, who came through after a nail-biting finale against Valencia.
Conte has stated that Juventus would have been the worthy finalists if not for some poor refereeing in the match.

"We reached for the dream, but we could not make it happen. Benfica were extremely obtrusive and the referee allowed it. This affected us. There were only 40 minutes of actual play, and the average is around 60 minutes. There were continuous stops to the game and time wasting, especially in the second half. Benfica showed all of their experience, they've been doing this in Europe for a long time and this evening they showed they were able to handle it,” said Conte, who has led the club to a third straight league title.