FC Porto Dumps Juventus Out Of Champions League
FC Porto dumped Juventus out of the Champions League, despite losing the second leg 3-2, thanks to Sergio Oliveira’s stunning extra-time free-kick that sent the visitors through to the quarter-finals, as the tie finished 4-4 on aggregate.
Juventus had been counting on Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo, the competition’s record goalscorer, and in-form Spaniard Alvaro Morata, who had scored six goals in the competition this season, to pull them through.
However, Porto took the lead when Dutch referee Bjorn Kuipers pointed to the spot after Juventus defender Merit Demiral fouled Porto forward Mehdi Taremi in the box. Oliveira made no mistake, sending Wojciech Szczesny the wrong way to give the visitors a 1-0 lead, holding a 3-1 advantage overall.
Porto goalkeeper Agustin Marchesi was in inspired form as he made vital saves against Alvaro Morata and Adrien Rabiot to keep Porto in the lead. Juventus created many chances but the score remained 1-0 to Porto at halftime.
Juventus hit back after the break thanks to Chiesa’s double, the first on 49 minutes when Ronaldo controlled and knocked it back for Chiesa to curl in past Marchesin from a tight angle.
Porto soon went a man down with Taremi sent off for two quick yellow cards, the second for recklessly kicking the ball away.
Despite the Iranian’s absence Porto managed to hold on, with Pepe intervening brilliantly to force Chiesa into striking the post after rounding Marchesi moments later.
Chiesa made no mistake just after the hour getting his head to another perfect Juan Cuadrado cross which Marchesin again got a hand to, but could not stop as Juventus pulled level 3-3 on aggregate.
Ronaldo missed a chance to add to his tally of 134 Champions League goals after heading a Cuadrado cross wide with 12 minutes to go.
It was end to end action with Marchesin denying Chiesa a hat-trick, while Morata had a goal ruled out for offside in injury time, before Cuadrado was desperately unlucky to see his curling shot smack back off the bar. However, the result was 2-1 after 90 minutes, with the scores 3-3 on aggregate.
10-man Porto had the best chance of the first 15 minutes in extra time with Szczesny blocking a Moussa Marega header. But Oliviera won a free-kick and fired in low to beat Szczesny on 115 minutes amid wild celebrations from the Portuguese bench.
Two minutes later Rabiot headed Juventus back into contention but the hosts could not snatch another goal as their European adventure ended prematurely once more.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus crashed out of the Champions League in the last 16 for the second year running losing to 10-man Porto on away goals
