Juventus have already reached some new lows this season, but this loss in Porto should take the cake as the worst one yet. The Bianconeri left Lyon for the Champions League at this stage last season, and for a long time it seemed as if this season’s team was trying to emulate it, but with even more embarrassment.
Coach Andrea Pirlo was frustrated after the game about how poorly his team played, after giving the hosts the advantage for just a moment in a physical battle for which they apparently had no game plan.
‘If you concede a goal after one minute, a stranger, it’s natural for the players to lose confidence, especially against a team that knows how to climb up the defense.
‘Porto immediately got the game on the track they wanted. With such a complete list, it’s normal that you can not always maintain the absolute focus and the right pace, but this should not have happened in the Round of 16 of the Champions League. ”
Club captain Giorgio Chiellini had to leave the game in the first half after another calving issue, and Alvaro Morata had more problems after the final whistle.
Fortunately, Matthijs De Ligt just had a seizure. Chiellini has a calf problem and Morata was not in good shape before, and was also sore at the end, so we’ll see. Morata has not been at her best since returning from a flu attack. He only played tonight because we needed him.
“He then felt sick in the dressing room, he was faint and needed to go to bed, so things are not going well with him.”
The opening goal comes from Porto’s pressure on Juve to try and play the ball from behind, and they sustained it for most of the game and came close to repeated mistakes more than once.
‘We moved the ball around too slowly and were not intelligent enough to realize the dynamics of the game we were going into.
‘The intention was to spread the game, but we did not do it enough in the first half, a little more towards the end. It is not easy against a team with 11 men behind the ball.
“We prepared well for this game, it was not the attitude we wanted, but conceding a goal in the first minute when we handed it over on a silver platter made everything difficult.”