Aveek Chaudhuri, March 9, 2021

Who's not going to the Champions League quarter finals? Cristiano Ronaldo and Juventus. Who is moving on? Porto. This shocking result happened after Porto held Juventus to a 4-4 two-legged aggregate score, with Porto moving on due to having 2 away goals while Juventus only had 1. Juventus hosted Porto at the Allianz Stadium on Tuesday for the second leg of their Champions League Round of 16 tie, with Porto in the lead 2-1. Juventus and Ronaldo looked to avoid a second year of exiting in the first knockout stage. However, that wasn't to be as even though Juventus won the game 3-2, they conceded 2 away goals, thus giving Porto the advantage and resulting in the Bianconeri crashing out. Desperate for a lifeline, Juventus dominated the match and tested Porto to the maximum but Porto stayed resilient and played arguably their best football all season as they managed to hold on. After the match started, things immediately started looking bad for Juventus as they conceded a penalty in the 19' minute, Porto's Sérgio Oliveira then converting to give Porto a 3-1 lead and their first away goal. But Juve's Frederico Chiesa brought hope back as he scored two goals in the 49' and 63' minute, the first being a beautiful top corner finish and the second behind a strong header. And in the meantime, Porto lost star forward Mehdi Taremi to a red card in the 54' minute, leaving them down to 10 men. But, Porto held on and the game ended 3-3 in aggregate score with both teams having one away goal, thus meaning extra time was to come. And that's where it went wrong for Juventus as in the 115' minute, Oliveira was gifted with a free kick, although quite far away. Oliveira shot it low but Juventus's 3 man wall broke, letting the ball pass right through and right past Wojciech Szczęsny's hands. Juventus then needed two more goals as Porto had the away goal advantage and even though they got one back in a Adrien Rabiot 117' minute header, they just couldn't find that fourth goal on the night as the game ended 3-2, giving Porto the advantage in a 4-4 aggregate score and the progression to the quarterfinals.

Over the 120 minutes, Juventus controlled the game with 69% possession while Porto had only 31%. And as a result, Andrea Pirlo's men fired shot after shot at Porto's goal, having an astounding 31 shots attempted in total with 13 on target. Now, even though Porto rarely had the ball, they still made the most of it with 14 shots attempted with a very solid 7 on target. In Juventus's quest for goals, the clear key man on the day was Frederico Chiesa who scored the first two. Throughout the game, he continuously darted back and forth, making the dangerous runs, creating excellent chances for himself and his teammates, and of course, scoring goals. He gave it his all on the day, doing whatever it took to try to help his team progress. However, Porto's key man, Oliveira also showed up on the day with his penalty and superb free kick. Oliveira and his fellow attackers tested Juventus defense whenever they had the ball and never gave up, always ready for the counterattack whenever Juventus lost the ball. On the day, both teams played well but Porto was just stunning both defensively and offensively, going toe to toe with Juventus every second of the game.

This result will surely create an uncertain sense surrounding the futures of two Juventus key pieces: superstar Cristiano Ronaldo and manager Andrea Pirlo. Ronaldo, while having a great season in the Serie A, had a noticeably poor performance even though he assisted the first goal. He was missing chances, being sloppy defensively, and simply didn't seem to show up for when his team needed him the most. There has already been many circulations about whether Juventus will offload the star due to his high wages but now it remains to be seen whether he himself will seek an exit to somewhere else where he can actually gain a shot at winning the Champions League for a sixth time. And with manager Andrea Pirlo, it remains to be seen how the Juventus board manages the situation. Pirlo has not had the greatest start to managerial life with Juventus, being in 3rd place in Serie A, 10 points off first place Inter Milan, and now, a Round of 16 exit to Porto. Thus, the question arises on whether Juventus will continue trusting him or give him the sack, the same way they got rid of Maurizio Sarri last season.

But while Juventus will no doubtedly receive a lot of attention for their failures in Europe's top competition, Porto also deserve their fair share of attention and appreciation. Porto manager Sérgio Conceição's men played magnificently on the day and really showed off their quality against one of Europe's elite clubs. They did everything on the day, they created chances, they scored, and they defended. Players like Jesús Corona, Oliveira, and Pepe really stepped up, executed the game plan perfectly, and led Porto to a fantastic finish, even after playing with 10-men for most of the game. Even though they lost the specific match today, they showed their worth and strength and now, all football fans will be watching to see whether Porto can repeat their famous 2004 Champions League win or even make a good run for it like Ajax and Monaco in previous seasons.