Juventus boss, Andrea Pirlo has blamed Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates for their 2-1 loss to Porto in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 on Wednesday.
Juventus “handed FC Porto the opening goal on a silver platter,” according to the manager. He blamed it on lack of concentration on the side of the players.
Arguably their worst performance of the season so far, Juve showed a lack of concentration, conceding a goal in the opening minute of each half.
Rodrigo Bentancur played an awful back-pass which was intercepted by Mehdi Taremi to give Porto a disappointing opener.
“When you concede a goal after one minute, a strange one at that, it’s natural the players will lose confidence, especially against a side that knows how to clam up in defence,” Pirlo told Sky Sport Italia.
“Porto got the game immediately on the track they wanted. With such a packed fixture list, it’s normal you can’t always maintain absolute focus and the right tempo, but it shouldn’t have happened in the Round of 16 of the Champions League.”
Federico Chiesa restored hope for the Italian champions by giving them a late away goal, while Cristiano Ronaldo had penalty appeals rejected in stoppages for the Zaidu challenge.
Juventus will welcome Porto to Turin for the reverse fixture on March 9.
Porto vs Juventus: Andrea Pirlo blames Ronaldo, others for 2-1 loss in Portugal
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