3 Serie A teams eliminated from UCL in huge blow to league's UEFA coefficient
Juventus joined Atalanta and AC Milan on their way out of the Champions League on Wednesday, rounding off a damaging 48 hours for Serie A in the knockout playoffs.
Inter are the last Italian team standing in Europe's top competition, having secured direct passage to the round of 16 by way of a fourth-place finish in the league phase.
They'll either face either PSV Eindhoven or Feyenoord in the next round. PSV beat Juventus 3-1 on Wednesday to clinch the tie 4-3 on aggregate. Feyenoord's 1-1 draw with 10-man Milan on Tuesday allowed them to advance 2-1 on aggregate.
Atalanta suffered the most shocking result of the midweek fixtures, losing 3-1 to Club Brugge on Tuesday en route to a 5-2 defeat on aggregate.
The results will rock Serie A's UEFA coefficient, which decides which countries get an extra qualification spot. Only the top two teams in the rankings receive an additional berth, and England and Spain currently hold those spots with significant margins, according to ESPN's Dale Johnson.
Italy is currently in third but has just four of its original eight teams remaining in European competition.
Juventus arrived in Eindhoven with a 2-1 lead from the first leg in Turin and were in position to advance when Timothy Weah's powerful finish canceled out Ivan Perisic's 53rd-minute goal. But PSV midfielder Ismael Saibari pounced on a goalmouth scramble to level the score at 3-3 on aggregate with 16 minutes remaining in regular time.
Ryan Flamingo tapped home in the first half of extra time to confirm the upset.
Brugge's three first-half goals - including a wallop of a finish by Ferran Jutgla seconds after a dramatic goal-line clearance at the other end of the pitch - proved to be too many for Atalanta to claw back despite their best efforts Tuesday. Ademola Lookman scored immediately after the interval but botched a penalty following a lengthy VAR check.
Atalanta manager Gian Piero Gasperini later called Lookman "one of the worst penalty takers I've ever seen."
Atalanta's flickering hopes were extinguished in the 87th minute when Atalanta captain Rafael Toloi was sent off for charging at Brugge defender Maxim De Cuyper in a moment of unadulterated rage.
Brugge nearly missed out on the playoffs altogether, finishing 24th in the league phase to nab the final qualification berth. Atalanta would've advanced directly to the round of 16 but fell outside the automatic places after a 2-2 draw with Barcelona.
Milan also blew a chance to qualify for next round on the final day of the league phase, losing 2-1 to eliminated side Dinamo Zagreb to drop into the playoffs.
They were the first Italian side to disappoint Tuesday. Theo Hernandez was sent off in the 51st minute after receiving a second yellow card for diving in the penalty area. The dismissal hamstrung the Rossoneri and allowed Feyenoord back into a game they had trailed by a goal.
Julian Carranza's header off Hugo Bueno's excellent cross was enough to send Feyenoord to the next round.