Marcello Lippi could not conceal his disappointment after his Juventus team were knocked out of the Champions League by Deportivo La Coruna.

“It’s a bitter feeling and we’re very sad to go out of the Champions League,” he said after the 2-0 aggregate loss.

“What really saddens me is that we couldn’t give ourselves a real chance, with our full compliment of players.”

Lippi was without striker David Trezeguet, midfielders Igor Tudor, Enzo Maresca and Antonio Conte and defenders Mark Iuliano and Gianluca Zambrotta. To compound matters, the lost Alessandro Del Piero after just seven mminutes.

“You need a bit of luck in that sort of situation but we lost Del Piero early on and then gave away a disgraceful goal before straight away missing a chance,” he added.

“Despite that we kept trying after the break and had a few chances but you need something to happen to give you some faith.

“But we’ll get over this – at this club we’re used to coping with adulation and with great disappointment”.

Deportivo coach Javier Irureta believes last night’s victory could act as a springboard for future success.

“We are certainly among the best eight sides in Europe and I think we are capable of reaching even greater heights,” said Irureta.

“It was a much calmer game than we expected even though you know it’s never going to be easy against Juve.”

“We controlled the game almost throughout and Pandiani’s goal virtually decided it all early on because Juve then needed to score three times.

“I chose Pandiani because with a one-goal lead to defend from the first leg he seemed the more suited for the kind of game we wanted to play here,” said Irureta.