Juventus have lost their first leg of the Champions League round-of-16 tie, in a 2-1 loss against Porto this Wednesday night. Taremi and Marega scored for the hosts, while Chiesa kept the hopes alive for the Bianconeri with a late goal in the second half.
It was a bad night for Juventus in Portugal, as the Italian champions couldn’t avoid a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Sérgio Conceição’s men, giving the Portuguese side a crucial advantage for the second leg. Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t score tonight, but he did see his teammate Federico Chiesa rescuing the Bianconeri’s hopes for the return leg, with a goal scored in the 82nd minute. If the Italians giants are unable to secure their presence in the quarter-finals, they’ll certainly be tempted to try their luck at one of the best paying online casino and simply gamble to make up for the losses. The hosts were able to build their lead thanks to great starts both in the first and second half. The opener was scored by Taremi in the 2nd minute of the game, while the 2-goal lead was obtained in the 46th minute, when Marega scored his second goal in the competition.
In European ties the away goal is usually vital for a team to progress, but even though Juventus managed to score it, the Bianconeri can’t be happy with their performance this Wednesday night in Porto. Not only they lost 2-1 against the Portuguese champions, but they’ve also left a very poor image of their football and earned their second loss in a row, completing their 3rd straight game without winning.
It only took one minute for FC Porto to make Juventus pay for their lack of focus in tonight’s game. Pirlo’s men made a huge mistake when passing the ball around at the back, allowing the hosts to steal possession and immediately score an easy goal. These are the types of goals that no one likes to offer, much less in a competition like the UEFA Champions League. The suicidal pass was made by Bentancur, allowing Taremi to slide in and reach to it before Szczesny, giving his side the early lead in the game. The Iran international was in right spot at the right time and given his luck, he might even consider betting at free football betting tip after the game.
With such an early lead, Porto’s strategy for the remaining of the game was naturally more conservative than what had been planned by Conceição. The hosts were comfortable seeing Juventus with the ball and didn’t give the Italian champions any spaces in their half of the pitch. The Bianconeri couldn’t find a solution to break through the Portuguese defence and even Ronaldo, who is usually highly motivated on Champions League nights, seemed to a bit off his game tonight.
The second half started in the very same way as the first one, with Porto surprising Juventus with an early goal, just seconds after the referee had blown his whistle for resuming the game. This time, however, it wasn’t an individual mistake allowing the opponents to score, but rather a collective apathy that made things easier for the hosts to score their second goal of the night and put even more pressure on Juventus for the rest of the game
The Vechia Signora was clearly struggling and we only saw improvements when Pirlo decided to sub off McKennie and bring in Álvaro Morata. With more presence in the attack, the Italian champions were finally creating chances to beat Marchesin, as Porto also started to retreat to their own half.
The Bianconeri’s goal would be scored in the 82nd minute, when a low cross from Adrien Rabiot found Federico Chiesa completely unmarked inside the box. The Italian forward hit the back of the net with a great strike and set the final score in 2-1 for the Portuguese side. This goal can be extremely valuable for the second leg, as a 1-0 win in Turin will now allow Juventus to go through to the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.
Source: best bookmakers.
