Andrea Pirlo will be ‘LIVID’ with Cristiano Ronaldo for turning his back on Sergio Oliveira’s decisive free-kick as Porto dumped Juventus out of the Champions League on away goals after a thrilling 4-4 draw on aggregate.
The Portugal captain jumped away from Oliveira’s scorching 30-yard free-kick to leave former Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny scrambling down to his right to no avail.
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Adrien Rabiot scored his first Champions League goal as an almost immediate response to leave the Italian side needing just one more goal with three minutes of added time remaining.
However, Ronaldo and his Juve teammates failed to find a way past 38-year-old Pepe and his dogged defensive colleagues, who held on to claim a famous victory in Turin.
Jamie O’Hara watched the game for talkSPORT 2 and believes Juve boss Andrea Pirlo will be fuming with what he saw from the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.
“Pirlo will be livid, Ronaldo turned his back completely,” O’Hara said. “It goes through his legs completely and leaves Szczęsny with no chance.
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“You don’t want to see that from your top player, not in those moments. You’re relying on your wall to do a job there.”
However, the former Spurs man was quick to praise on his former Real Madrid colleague Pepe, who helped marshal the backline as the Italians heaped pressure on with time running out.
“It was an absolute master class in terms of defending; he knows where the ball is going to be,” O’Hara added.
“He defended that six-yard box as if his life depended on it. He led by example and can go into that dressing room with his head held high.”
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Merih Demiral put Juventus on the back foot within 20 minutes after his clumsy foul gifted Oliveira with a chance to score from 12 yards and he duly sent Szcesny the wrong way.
Federico Chiesa got the Italians back into the game within four minutes of the restart after firing into the top corner from close range after Ronaldo beat the offside trap to lay the ball off.
When Mehdi Taremi was sent off after two quick bookings – the second for booting the ball away – moments later, Juventus were suddenly full of confidence.
After smacking the post, Chiesa was the hero again as he levelled the tie with a little under half an hour to play.
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Former Chelsea man Juan Cuadrado whipped in a delicious cross and the winger duly headed home, with VAR having a lengthy check before allowing the goal to stand.
Alvaro Morata had a goal ruled out correctly for offside in added time, before Cuadrado then hit the bar with a wicked left footed shot.
But it was Oliveira who found a decisive strike as his free-kick from distance somehow found the back of the net to leave Juve needing to score twice to win. Rabiot grabbed one back to set up a thrilling finale.
However, the Portuguese side hung on thanks to the resilience of Pepe and his defensive charges at the back, while there will surely be serious questions asked of Pirlo and £99m man Ronaldo after their early exit from the competition.
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