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Manchester United were already through before their weakened team lost 3-0 to Israelis Maccabi Haifa.
And AC Milan were also through when they rather conveniently lost at Lens, a result which helped German giants Bayern Munich out of the competition.
Now I’m not saying that Juventus will see us as a threat in terms of winning the tournament, but after our displays against them they won’t want to play us again.
In an ideal world Juve would play a full strength team in the Ukraine and go all out for the win, but that is pretty unlikely now that they have won the group (barring a six goal defeat).
So the best we can hope for is that they field a weakened team, full of players who are playing for their places. Barcelona put out a young team at Club Brugge last night and emerged as 1-0 victors.
However if Juventus were to suffer a convenient 1-0 defeat that would benefit both sides, then it would hardly be the first time that such an arrangement has been reached.
In 1999 Man United and Bayern Munich played out a timid draw at Old Trafford that saw both teams progress out of the group, and Leeds and AC Milan seemed very happy to settle for a draw which saw Barcelona knocked out a couple of years ago.
And then of course there is the possibility of corruption and match fixing.
It is fairly well documented that the Russian gangsters have a major say in the running of Ukrainian football. And it doesn’t take too much imagination to think that they might be capable of providing the referee or their opponents with money, or the traditional fur coats and prostitutes, if it furthered their interest.
Italian football also has a history of corruption, most famously for 1982 World Cup hero Paolo Rossi receiving a suspension for match fixing which should have seen him miss out on those finals. Strangely he managed to get the ban lifted before the start of the tournament.
Any of you who have read Joe McGinniss’ excellent book The Miracle of Castel di Sangro will know that teams not trying or deliberately fixing games is an accepted part of professional football in Italy.
And which club is at the centre of most of the allegations of bribery and corruption in Italian football? Yes, Juventus.
Rarely does a season go by without the Turin side’s owners being accused of getting at referees or opponents, and they do appear to get a generous share of controversial decisions in big matches.
Unfortunately there is nothing that we can do to stop this happening.
All we can do is hope that our lads can get a result in Rotterdam and that whatever team Juventus put out in Kyiv give it their best shot.
Can we trust the Italians? Have your say at the Toon Chat Messageboard