Cristiano Ronaldo criticized for allowing Porto to knock out Juventus with a free kick

The ball, struck from a considerable distance, reached Wojciech Szczesny in the goal, but the former Arsenal goalkeeper was unable to stop the ball and shoved it into the net.

That made for an action packed 2-2 game on the night; 4-3 to Porto in total. Juventus cut one through Adrien Rabiot, but the round of 16 tie ended 4-4 overall and Porto went through the away goals.

Ronaldo and Szczesny will inevitably face criticism for their role in the crucial game-changing free-kick.

Juventus and Ronaldo, the Champions League record scorer, left the competition. The Serie A champions have never made it past the quarter-final stage since the Portuguese joined the club in 2018.

Porto got off to a perfect start with a penalty from Oliveira in the first half that put the visitors 1-0 up on the night and 3-1 up on aggregate.

However, Juventus performed well in the second half when the man who scored his goal in the first leg, Federico Chiesa, fired a superb shot to equalize on the night.

A second caution for Porto’s Mehdi Taremi followed a few minutes later, for kicking the ball away from all things, and his team was reduced to 10 men as the striker walked away.

Then that man Chiesa struck again, this time to meet a Juan Cuadrado center with a powerful header to level the overall tie at 3-3.

Former Chelsea winger Cuadrado was the inspiration for Juve’s second-half comeback, nearly winning the game for the Italian team when his injury-time shot hit the bottom of the bar, but again. leave.

That sent the game into extra time, where Moussa Marega had a chance to put Porto ahead with a header from close range, but the striker drove him straight to Szczesny.

But Szczesny was at least partly to blame for Porto’s goal, as he was unable to avoid the long-distance free kick, which went through Ronaldo into the wall and into the back of the net.