By Gustavo Castilho
Portuguese take advantage of their rival’s failures and make two flashes each time.
The defensive sector’s failures allowed Porto to score two lightning goals in each half, in the Portuguese team’s 2-1 victory over Juventus. As soon as the ball rolled into the Estádio do Dragão, Taremi opened the scoring after two minutes of play. The second goal came with Marega, in the first minute of the second stage. Chiesa declined for the Italian team. Andrea Pirlo’s team had even more possession of the ball in the match, but suffered from the high score imposed by the hosts.
Juventus went off the pitch with the referee for not taking a penalty on Cristiano Ronaldo, in the last game of the game. The striker was taken down by Sanusi in the area and asked for a penalty. Spanish referee Carlos del Cerro put his hand to his ear to indicate that he was listening to the VAR. However, he ended the match. The Juventus players surrounded him and asked for explanations for not having checked the play, but Del Cerro repeated several times that the four minutes of extra time had already ended.
This was only the sixth time that the story that Porto and Juventus faced each other in an official competition and the first that the Portuguese won. Before, the Italians had won four matches and there was a draw. The last time the two teams met had also been in the round of 16 of the 2016/17 Champions. At the time, Juventus won both matches.
The goal away from home gave greater balance to the match of the return, which will be on March 9, in Turin. A 1-0 win gives Juventus a place in the quarterfinals. A 2-1 win for the Italians takes the decision to overtime. Porto go through with a draw or defeat by a goal difference, provided they score two or more goals (3 to 2, 4 to 3, etc.).
