Kalulu on Juventus 5-2 collapse and Bastoni apology: ‘It’s a pity’

ISTANBUL, TURKEY – FEBRUARY 17: Lloyd Kelly and Pierre Kalulu celebrate after Teun Koopmeiners of Juventus (obscured) scored their sides first goal during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Knockout Play-off First Leg match between Galatasaray A.S. and Juventus at Ali Sami Yen Spor Kompleksi on February 17, 2026 in Istanbul, Turkey. (Photo by Burak Kara/Getty Images)

Pierre Kalulu insists Juventus cannot hide behind alibis after their 5-2 defeat to Galatasaray, and wants to put the Alessandro Bastoni incident behind him. ‘It’s a pity.’

The Bianconeri had been leading 2-1 at half-time in the first leg of this Champions League play-off, with a Teun Koopmeiners brace overturning the early Gabriel Sara goal.

They went 3-2 down and a man down after the restart, crumbling to a 5-2 loss that gives them a mountain to climb in the second leg on February 25.

Kalulu surprised by Juventus collapse

“Goals keep coming from our own errors, but the most difficult thing to swallow was the second half performance overall,” Kalulu told Sky Sport Italia.

“Even with a red card, we should not have allowed all those scoring opportunities. We need to figure out what happened tonight, but it’s in the past now and in football you must be able to quickly move on to the next match.”

Gleison Bremer limped off with an injury in the first half, while they were also missing Jonathan David, Emil Holm and Dusan Vlahovic. Was the strain of their recent run of big matches to blame for this capitulation?

“No, you cannot hide behind fatigue when dealing with a Champions League fixture. That’s just the way it went today, it’s very difficult to work out what went wrong, but we’ve got to lift our heads and do better in future.”

Kalulu was in all the Italian headlines this week after his red card in the 3-2 Serie A defeat to Inter, as the second yellow was for a Bastoni simulation.

“Obviously, I was very irritable after that incident, but it is better not to talk too much, because sometimes it doesn’t really help. I just have to focus on the pitch, there are others who can talk about these matters.”

Inter defender Bastoni made a public apology today for exaggerating the contact to get Kalulu sent off, but above all for loudly celebrating the dismissal.

“I didn’t see what he said,” replied Kalulu.

“That match is in the past now, we’ve got to look to the future and not think about it anymore. All I will say is that it’s a pity.”