I think that Google did make that point; it is Question 2(d) of the reference, and dealt with in paragraphs 62-88. I think whoever wrote that line meant to say that they'd failed to convince the Court of that point, rather than that they hadn't made it.
Imho this ruling isn't as "evil" or "censorship-based" as some commenters have made out, but also isn't nearly as pro-individual privacy.
As with most EU law, it comes down to proportionality; balancing the gain to the individual's right to privacy by removing the search result against the trouble to remove it (very low weighting) and the public's freedom of expression/right to know it (can vary).
In theory this is great; you and I can get the awkward things we did when we were young scrubbed before they turn up with job applications, but evil corporations can't use it to bury their dirty secrets, or politicians to hide uncomfortable pasts.
In practice, however, this kind of balancing is very expensive to do - and the Court seems to be encouraging direct claimant/search engine interactions (rather than going through the domestic courts), so we could see search engines just agreeing to take down everything they're told because they don't want to pay to fight or even examine the claims - as with defamation or copyright claims.
[It's also important to remember that this is a ruling on a 20-year-old law, the law technically hasn't changed, this is just the first time the CJEU has been asked whether search engines "process" personal information etc..]