10-Man Porto Stun Cristiano Ronaldo, Juventus to Advance to UCL Quarterfinals

Luca Bruno/Associated Press

Porto advanced to the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League despite suffering a 3-2 defeat in extra time to Juventus on Tuesday at Juventus Stadium in Turin, Italy.

The Portuguese giants moved on via away goals on a 4-4 aggregate scoreline after having won 2-1 in the first leg.

Sergio Oliveira delivered the decisive blow on a free kick in the 115th minute. His long-range effort tucked narrowly inside the post and past a diving Wojciech Szczesny.

Adrien Rabiot got one back for the hosts two minutes later to add even more drama. Juventus’ comeback attempt ran out of steam, though. A brace from Federico Chiesa wasn’t enough.

Porto appeared to put one foot in the quarterfinals thanks to a 19th-minute goal by Oliveira from the penalty spot. The contact between Merih Demiral and Mehdi Taremi was minimal but enough for the referee to point to the spot.

In general, it was a dreadful first half for Juventus.

Juve manager Andrea Pirlo likely had that one-goal deficit in mind when he listed Cristiano Ronaldo as a substitute for a 3-1 win over Lazio on Saturday. It was a big call since a defeat almost certainly would’ve ended any hope for the club to win a 10th successive league title.

Early on, the rest Ronaldo received didn’t seem to make much of a difference.

With their Champions League lives hanging in the balance, Juventus had little choice but to throw everything forward in the second half. They looked like a different team almost immediately after play resumed.

In the 49th minute, Ronaldo got involved as he laid the ball off for Chiesa, who fired an unstoppable shot into the top right corner.

The momentum was starting to shift in Juventus’ direction even before Porto encountered another big setback.

Taremi was already on a yellow card when he kicked the ball away after the referee blew his whistle in the 53rd minute. Inside a largely empty venue, the Iranian forward couldn’t claim he didn’t hear the whistle in this case, and he earned a second yellow.

Only minutes later, Chiesa nearly capitalized on the man advantage when he got in behind the Porto defense. He was unable to make good contact with the ball in front of an open goal and saw his shot hit off the post.

Juan Cuadrado presented the Italian winger with another chance in the 63rd minute, and he didn’t miss this time. Chiesa powered his header past Agustin Marchesin.

From that moment on, the question seemed to become whether Juventus would find a fourth goal (on aggregate) during regulation or would require extra time.

Chiesa eluded Jesus Corona in the 18-yard box, only for Marchesin to make a point-blank save in the 82nd minute. In injury time, Alvaro Morata was fractionally offside to wipe out a tidy finish into the bottom right corner, and Cuadrado had a left-footed shot carom off the crossbar.

Of course, Porto just needed one goal to effectively end the tie. They lived on the razor’s edge for much of Tuesday night but did just enough to stymie Juve.

The outcome is nothing short of a disaster for Pirlo’s side, which is out of the Champions League round of 16 for the second straight season.

Signing Ronaldo in 2018 was a sign of Juve’s desperation in pursuit of European glory, having dominated domestically. Instead, they remain unable to get over the hump after reaching the final in 2015 and 2017.

What’s Next?

Porto await the results of the quarterfinal draw on March 19 to learn their opponents for the next round. In the meantime, they will hope to make up some ground on league leaders Sporting on Sunday at home to Pacos de Ferreira. Juventus look to close the 10-point gap between themselves and Serie A leaders Inter Milan on Saturday against Cagliari.