Juventus crashed out of the UEFA Champions after suffering a shock defeat against Porto on Tuesday. Ten-man Porto reached the quarterfinals despite a 3-2 defeat on the night at the Allianz Arena on away goals with a 4-4 aggregate score line. The Bianconeri have now crashed out of the UCL for the third time in a row and this was Juve’s sixth elimination out of their last seven UCL knockout ties when losing the first leg.
Juventus vs Porto
The Dragons were the dominant force in the opening half, and the Portuguese team took the lead in the 19th minute. Defender Merih Demiral fouled Medhi Taremi in the box and Sergio Oliveira coolly slotted home the penalty.
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In the second half Juventus emerged with more purpose. Federico Chiesa turned the game on its head with his two goals. Chiesa scored after being played in by Ronaldo in the 49th minute. He then scored again in the 63rd minute when he headed in from Juan Cuadrado’s perfect cross.
Porto were reduced to 10 men in the 54th minute. Taremi having recently received a yellow card, was booked again for kicking the ball away. With the game ties on 3-3, Juventus squandered a flurry of chances to go ahead in the tie.
Ronaldo headed just wide following another superb Cuadrado cross. Alvaro Morata thought he had scored a stoppage-time winner for Juve only to be flagged offside. Cuadrado hit the bar with a stunning effort at the end of normal time.
It was Oliveira again who put Porto ahead in the extra time when he scored from a cunning 117th minute free-kick. Adrien Rabiot pulled one for the hosts on the other end almost immediately. But it was too little too late for Andre Pirlo’s side.
Manager’s Take
Andrea Pirlo, Juventus coach said to Sky Sport Italia, “We started well and there was a chance through Álvaro Morata to take the lead immediately. It didn’t go in, there was an error for the penalty, we could have conceded a second, but then we played the game we should have done in the second half, helped also by the extra man.”
“The game could have been different if we had scored in the opening minutes. When you concede, then it becomes a completely different match.”
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