Porto beat Juventus, but was Ronaldo denied a last gasp penalty

Controversy at Estadio Dragao

FC Porto will take a slender lead back to Turin after beating the Italian champions Juventus 2-1 in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie.

Porto took the lead after just 63 seconds when Mehdi Taremi pounced on Rodrigo Betancur’s poor backpass to put the Portuguese side ahead. They doubled their lead in the 46th minute when Moussa Marega beat Wojceich Szczesny at his near post.

However Federico Chiesa pulled a goal back to give Juventus a vital away goal in the 82nd minute. This was the first goal Porto have conceded in the tournament this season.

Juventus will feel aggrieved that they didn’t leave with a draw after Cristiano Ronaldo, who was quiet on his return to his homeland, made contact with Zaidu Sanusi in the box. The Juventus players surrounded the referee but despite a VAR check, no penalty was given.

Cristiano Ronaldo went down in the box in stoppage time 😯

Nothing given ❌

Ronaldo is FUMING 😡 pic.twitter.com/A1NOMlHrz4

— Goal (@goal) February 17, 2021

Pundits on BeIn Sports including Arsene Wenger and Ruud Gullit believed that a penalty should have been awarded.

So was that a penalty at the death on CR7?

Our pundits are convinced that VAR made a mistake!#beINUCL #UCL

Watch Now – https://t.co/RRmQgctETJ pic.twitter.com/M7yISaZKl1

— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS_EN) February 17, 2021

Pirlo happy with away goal

Porto beat Juventus, but was Ronaldo denied a last gasp penalty

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – AUGUST 10: Paul Pogba (L) of Juventus celebrates his goal with Andrea Pirlo of Juventus during the match between the A-League All Stars and Juventus at ANZ Stadium on August 10, 2014 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Joosep Martinson/Getty Images)

Andrea Pirlo said in his post match conference:

“It’s not easy to react when you concede such a goal after one minute. layers lost confidence and this influenced their performance for several minutes. Fortunately we scored an important goal through Chiesa and now we will focus on the return leg.”

The return leg in Turin on 9th March is finely balanced.