EFE
FThe Hederic Church gave Juventus hope in the Champions League, as his late strike gave them a crucial away goal in a 2-1 loss to Porto.
The Italian’s 82nd minute strike put an end to an unwanted run for Juve strikers, but he became the first player to score a goal in the Champions League knockout round, other than Cristiano Ronaldo since the arrival of the Portuguese in 2018 from real Madrid.
Andrea Pirlo could not have asked for a worse start and Rodrigo Bentancur will endure sleepless nights for his role in the opening of Porto, which came after just 61 seconds.
Juventus tried to play the ball from their own home, but everything went wrong, the Uruguayan’s indifference being exposed by the aggressive press of the hosts. In his own box, Bentancur played a blind pass to the blind Wojciech Szczesny, but Mahdi Taremi he slipped in to get there before the pole and to give the Portuguese team the lead.
Porto continued to press up, and La Vecchia Signora struggled to find a way to overcome it. They sought to implement a more direct approach, but Porto was equal to everything they had thrown at them.
Frustratingly for the Bianconeri, the second half began in the same way as the first, and the hosts celebrated their second goal one minute after the restart. A ball in the box from Wilson Manafa found Moussa Marega who, after receiving a touch to settle down, defeated Szczesny at his near goal with an effort that could have done more for the Juventus goalkeeper.
Federico Chiesa pulled one back for Juve in the last ten minutes, finishing excellently on a Adrien rabiot reduce.
On March 9, the two sides will fight again, and Juventus has a chance to fight due to Chiesa’s late strike.