UCL: Juventus And Atalanta Qualify, Inter Narrowly Miss Out On Automatic Qualification As Napoli Crash Out Entirely

With the final game of the group phase of the UEFA Champions league that was played today, it was a mixed fortune for the four Italian clubs that are representing the Serie A in Europe’s elite competition as the trio of Inter Milan, Atalanta and Juventus did enough to earn their place in the play-off while reigning league champions, Napoli crashed out entirely after losing to Chelsea at home.

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Inter earned an impressive 2-0 win away to Borussia Dortmund with a magical Federico Dimarco free kick and Andy Diouf goal, but it wasn’t enough for a top eight spot as they had won the opening four games, but then lost three on the bounce, so sat one point above the Germans going into this final match of the league phase.

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It was a closed game at the Signal Iduna Park, especially in the first half as both teams tried not to commit too much in order not to be open to a counter attack and it ended goalless first half and the second half was also heading in the same direction until the game sprang to life later on.

Inter found the breakthrough from a free kick after Henrikh Mkhitaryan was fouled near the penalty area and Dimarco lifted the ball over the wall and saw it dip into the near top corner from just outside the area for the first goal of the game with another to follow soon after.

Andy Diouf came off the bench and made sure of the victory in stoppages, as he twisted and turned, the finish taking a deflection off Jobe Bellingham to dribble into the bottom corner but the win was not enough as other results ensured they finished 10th on the table.

As for Atalanta, they’re going into the play-offs despite ending the league phase with a disappointing 1-0 defeat away to Union Saint-Gilloise. They had been on the verge of guaranteeing a place in the top eight last week until falling asleep for a 3-2 home defeat to Athletic Club and then they lost again today.

January signing Giacomo Raspadori was cup-tied, with Raoul Bellanova injured, but Ademola Lookman got his first start of 2026 after the Africa Cup of Nations but he failed to inspire his teammates to a victory as the home side got the decisive goal even if it wasn’t enough to get them a place in the play-off.

In the 70th minute, Ait El Hadj floated a free kick to the back post for the well-taken Anan Khalaili volley, but Sportiello should’ve done better and they even tried to get a point later on as De Roon shinned an effort wide, but wasted the golden opportunity to equalise in stoppages.

Charles De Ketelaere rolled across from the right and unmarked Kamaldeen Sulemana scuffed it wide from six yards undisturbed at the back post and after the final whistle plus the result from the other games, the La Dea finished 15th on the table.

As for Juventus, they also confirmed their place in the play-off round after settling for a 0-0 draw away against AS Monaco in France as they came into this tie knowing that even with a victory, they would need favours from several other sides if they were to reach the top eight.

Luciano Spalletti made a few interesting personnel choices, including the decision to leave both Kenan Yildiz and Jonathan David out of the starting line-up in favour of Francisco Conceicao and Lois Openda. There were also opportunities for Teun Koopmeiners and Juan Cabal instead of Manuel Locatelli and Andrea Cambiaso.

The home side thought that they had scored after Folarin Balogun had the ball in the back of the net within the first quarter of an hour, but his goal was ruled out after a fairly quick VAR check, which confirmed that he had shoved Pierre Kalulu to the floor on his way into the area.

That appeared to be the best scoring opportunity in the game even if the Bianconeri also came close through Lois Openda who registered Juventus’s closest chance of the first period, dragging just wide of the far post from a tough angle on the left of the area.

Going in at the interval, and for much of the second half, a single goal would have sent Juventus into the top eight, and importantly, straight into the round of 16 but they were unable to register a single shot during the second period, nor were they able to register a shot on target at all across the 90 minutes.

Happy to settle for the draw, Juventus end their Champions League league phase campaign in 13th position, which means that they will be among the third seeds in Friday’s play-off draw but for the final Serie A representative, they were not so lucky to get into the play-off.

Instead, Napoli were eliminated with a 3-2 defeat at Diego Armando Maradona stadium to Chelsea sending the Italian champions crashing out of the competition. They knew they had a mountain to climb after two wins, two draws and three defeats, including a dismal 1-1 with 10-man Copenhagen.

Furthermore, the injury crisis kept getting worse as David Neres, Matteo Politano, Vanja Milinkovic-Savic, Amir Rrahmani, Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa, Billy Gilmour and Kevin De Bruyne were still on the treatment table while the Partenopei were looking to bounce back after Sunday’s 3-0 Serie A loss to Juventus.

The Blues were revitalised under new coach Liam Rosenior, who took over from Enzo Maresca in early January and they were clearly dominant in the opening fifteen to twenty minutes, with Rosenior’s side pressing intensely and Conte’s side unable to cope with the sheer physicality.

Their efforts were rewarded after Juan Jesus was penalised for a handball off a Reece James free-kick, with Enzo Fernandez scoring the resulting penalty for the opening goal of the game after referee Clement Turpin pointed to the spot without hesitation.

However, the momentum shifted with the goal as the visitors took their foot off the pedal a little and Napoli fashioned a few good chances before Antonio Vergara scored an incredible first goal for his boyhood club to continue his great form of late, repaying Antonio Conte’s faith in hi..

A delicate spin sent Fofana packing and Vergara slotted the ball into the far corner and they didn’t stop there, instead they went ahead after good work from Olivera to assist Rasmus Hojlund for the lead which they managed to hold on to into the half time break.

Read Also: An Early Fixture Plus A Number Of Changes To The Starting Lineup, A Recipe For A Disaster For Inter?

Despite efforts to dig in and hold on to the lead, Chelsea equalised in the 61st minute after a fantastic strike from outside the box from Joao Pedro and, the Brazilian then scored his brace, sending Napoli crashing out of the competition with another well worked goal with roughly ten minutes to play.

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