Portuguese champions FC Porto stunned Cristiano Ronaldo and Juventus to enter the quarterfinals of the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League.
Porto played most of the 2nd leg with 10 men on the pitch after Mehdi Taremi was sent off but they managed to upset the Italian champions by going through on away goals in extra time.
Juventus were silenced by FC Porto in the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League as the Bianconeri failed to make it past the round of 16 for the second consecutive season.
Sergio Oliveira scored in extra time to send Porto through to the last 8 of Europe’s elite club competition despite of losing 3-2 in Turin at the Allianz Stadium.
FC Porto surprised all by winning the first leg at home, 2-1 to go in with a slender lead but Juventus had the away goal.
The away goal joy did not last very long for the Italian giants as they conceded a penalty that was converted by Sergio Oliveira in the 19th minute to put the Portuguese side in the driver’s seat to go through as they now lead 3-1 on aggregate and had cancelled out Juve’s away goal advantage before the game.
Porto did well to go into half-time with a goal to the good and a 2-goal advantage in the aggregate score.
Juventus really upped the ante in the 2nd half, however. Federico Chiesa scored early on in the second half to make it 1-1.
5 minutes after Juventus found the equaliser, Iranian striker Mehdi Taremi was sent off in the 54th minute to give Porto a one-man disadvantage as they were now down to just 10 men.
Juve made the visitors pay as Chiesa netted his second less than 10 minutes after the red card to make it all square on aggregate and the away goal rule at 3-3.
Regulation time ended with the score at 2-1 but since things were all square on aggregate, the game went into extra time.
Sergio Oliveira of Porto celebrates with Wilson Manafa after scoring their side’s second goal.
(Photo by Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images)
Extra time was filled with drama as Sergio Oliveira seemed to have all but won the tie for his side with a beautiful low freekick that went through Cristiano Ronaldo’s legs in the wall and beat Juventus goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny in goal to put Porto up 4-3 on aggregate and with an advantage due to the away goal rule.
This meant that Juventus needed 2 goals to go through with just 5 minutes left in extra time. The game took an extremely nervous turn just to add to the drama that seems to always exist in European knockout ties as Adrien Rabiot scored a freekick to make it 3-2 in the game and 4-4 on aggregate.
This was in vain, however, as Porto held on to the result and went through to the quarterfinals on the away goal rule.
“These games are marked in the history of the club,” said Sérgio Conceição, FC Porto’s coach.
“I have a group of brave players who interpreted what we wanted in the best way, against a great team with players of a very high level.
“After Taremi’s sending off, we showed the Porto DNA. We never stopped believing — this is the true DNA of Porto.”
Juventus coach Andrea Pirlo also had his say on the thrilling game.
He said, “When you make four big errors over two legs in the Champions League last 16, you can get eliminated. It will take a few days to wipe this game from our minds, but then we must play every game with the right attitude, realise we’re still only in March and have time to climb the Serie A table.”
Former Real Madrid teammates – Pepe and Cristiano Ronaldo (Photo by Soccrates/Getty Images)
Pepe clashed against his former Real Madrid teammate Cristiano Ronaldo and he was ecstatic with his side coming out on top of Juventus.
“The work of the whole team was important to go through in a manner that was fully deserved,” said veteran Porto defender Pepe.
“It’s hard to explain by words the way we managed to react (playing with 10 men). Today we showed lots of character: the players were focused and that made it easy for us.”
FC Porto are aiming to win their 2nd ever UEFA Champions League title and will be hoping to continue this dream run after upsetting one of the favourites of the tournament.
