Three years ago Juventus gambled on Cristiano Ronaldo lifting them to Champions League glory. Since then they have been working against underdogs in the knockout stages, losing to Ajax in the last eight in 2019, to Lyon in the last 16 of last season and now to Porto. Meanwhile, Juve chairman and his own bad ideas machine, Andrea Agnelli, believe that football would be better off if transfers between big sides were a thing of the past.
Agnelli, the chairman of the European Club Association, is one of the key drivers behind reforms that will make the Champions League even more elitist. In his head, football is not about promotion. And in his world, the path to glory is accomplished with one of the best examples of the rest of a great club: betting on all superannuated superstitions that have his aging legs make it impossible for Juve to practice in a wider playing style under their inexperienced manager. , Andrea Pirlo.
Ronaldo, always a performer, may still be there to make time. But there is a large body of evidence suggesting that Juve, who are 10 points below Internazionale at the top of Serie A, have grown into a worse team since being bought by Real Madrid.
Porto deserved the humiliation, and somehow reached the last eight on a away goal despite playing most of the second leg in Turin with 10 men behind a moment of utter folly from Mehdi Taremi.
The decisive moment came when Porto, who were so brave on and off the ball, won a free kick with five minutes left in extra time. Sérgio Oliveira, who had outscored the visitors 3-1 overall with a penalty in the first half, hit the ball low and hard towards the wall. Ronaldo jumped, turned his back and the ball went through his feet, leaving Wojciech Szczesny blind and unable to respond in time. There was no better way to summarize Juve’s inertia.
While Adrien Rabiot quickly pulled a man back to set a frantic finish on a barmy night, Juve looked farther than ever from becoming European champions for the first time since 1996. The under- Sérgio Conceição’s confident pages deserve it.
Porto held the embarrassment, shutting down Juve’s push for a dramatic winner. They conceded at the start of the second half, conceding when Ronaldo moved for a while and created a good goal for Federico Chiesa and the Portuguese side made their job even more difficult when Taremi allowed Bjorn Kuipers to show the second yellow card. to him after he kicked the ball away when he had already booked a place.
Chiesa soon pulled Juve level on aggregate, going in his third goal of the tie. But Juve had no ideas against 10 men. Winner Álvaro Morata had not allowed a winner to be upside down and Juan Cuadrado shook the crossbar at the end of the regular period, but Porto’s heroic defense dug deep to force extra time and kept the threat on the counter. Juve were lucky when Moussa Marega went straight at Szczesny.
Ronaldo was poor. When Juve took out all that money, they were expecting something lighter than this. “These are his games,” Pirlo said before the game, picking up the myth, but Porto had no reason to be scared. They didn’t sit on their win from the first leg. Sturdy at the back and dangerously broken, they created plenty of chances in the first half, with seven attempts on goal within the first 25 minutes.
Leading them after winning a penalty in the 17th minute, Merih Demiral clumsily fouled Taremi. Oliveira Szczesny misplaced.
Juve were often static in the final third round and Morata was denied twice by Agustín Marchesín. While Ronaldo was not involved in general play, he made an impact when he finally got caught in the Porto area. Running on to Leonardo Bonucci’s pass, he set up Chiesa for a beautiful finish.
Porto, led by the 38-year-old Pepe at center-back, began to struggle. Taremi, who had just booked a place, tried to spend time kicking the ball when Marega was punished. The referee did not need to believe much to dismiss Taremi.
Juve were level after 63 minutes, Chiesa heading to Cuadrado’s cross. Somehow, however, Porto pulled off the impossible. Juve’s outrage should not be missed on anyone after Agnelli’s behavior.