Ronaldo’s Juventus booted out of UEFA by FC Porto. Sergio Oliveira’s 113th-minute free-kick shocked Juventus to send Porto through in a stunning Champions League round of 16 tie despite a 3-2 second-leg win for the Italian side.
That’s one hell of a performance by Porto. By far the better side in the first half, the jig looked up in the second, after they conceded a couple of goals in short order and went down to ten men. But they dug in, the old warrior Pepe overseeing a heroic defensive stand. And could a Juventus defeat have ended any other way, the decisive blow, Sergio Oliveira’s late free kick, sailing between Cristiano Ronaldo’s feet? A third European Cup continues to elude Juve; Porto’s quest for their third remains on!
Perhaps understandably, after that emotional maelstrom, tempers threaten to spill over at the end. Porto cavort, while Andrea Pirlo has a full and frank exchange of views with the referee. Porto boss Sergio Conceicao momentarily looks like embarking on some sort of freewheeling rampage. Not sure what about. It all calms down quickly enough, anyway.
Oliveira’s long-range free-kick deep into the second half of extra-time went through the legs of Cristiano Ronaldo in the Juventus wall to make it 2-2 on the night and give Porto the lead over two legs. .
Adrien Rabiot’s thumping header two minutes later gave Juventus hope, only for Porto goalkeeper Agustin Marchesin to produce a stunning save in the final moments to ensure the Portuguese champions advanced on away goals.
Porto had opened up a 3-1 aggregate lead through Oliveira’s 19th-minute penalty after Merih Demiral brought down Porto’s Mehdi Taremi.
But Juventus’ Federico Chiesa found the far corner from a tight angle in the 49th minute before Taremi was shown a second yellow card for kicking the ball away.
And Chiesa headed in a Juan Cuadrado cross after 63 minutes to level the tie on aggregate.
It looked Juventus would capitalise on their man advantage but Porto defended superbly to take the match extra-time where Oliveira’s decided the tie.
Source – BBC News
