LONDON: Cristiano Ronaldo’s first game for Juventus in his native Portugal ended in defeat as FC Porto scored at the start of each half to beat the Italians 2-1 in the first leg of their last-16 Champions League tie on Wednesday.
Mehdi Taremi gave Porto the lead after just 63 seconds after a defensive mixup by Juve gifted him an easy finish, and Moussa Marega netted 19 seconds into the second half.
On a night when little went Juventus’s way, Federico Chiesa’s 82nd-minute strike at least handed them a lifeline going into the return leg in Turin on March 9.
Erling Braut Haaland produced another deadly display of finishing with a first-half brace as Borussia Dortmund came from behind to beat Sevilla 3-2 in the other round-of-16 first leg on Wednesday.
Sevilla took the lead early through Suso Fernandez but Dortmund rallied with a goal by Mahmoud Dahoud and Haaland’s double before halftime at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium in Seville. Luuk de Jong scored Sevilla’s late second goal to improve the Spanish team’s chances in the return leg.
Juve beat Porto home and away without conceding a goal the last time the two sides met at the same stage four years ago.
But they made a dreadful start at Estadio do Dragao when Iranian striker Taremi anticipated Rodrigo Bentancur’s pass back to Wojciech Szczesny and slid in to shoot past the goalkeeper from close range.
Juve appeared to lack energy and ideas and their night got worse in the 35th when captain Giorgio Chiellini limped off with a calf injury.
Porto were even quicker off the mark at the start of the second half when Wilson Manafa ran down the right before rolling across for Marega to turn in at the near post.
Ronaldo had to wait until five minutes after the break to have a shot on goal. Weston McKennie nodded the ball into the path of the Portuguese star, whose weak effort was blocked.
However, Chiesa pulled Juve back into the tie following an Adrien Rabiot run down the right with a pull back for the Italian to cushion a finish into the corner of the net.
Sevilla took the lead in the seventh minute when midfielder Suso’s shot skidded into the net off Dortmund’s Mats Hummels but the visitors responded emphatically, levelling in the 19th when Dahoud fired a right-footed, long-range shot into the top corner.
Norwegian forward Haaland put the German team ahead in the 27th, playing a one-two with Jadon Sancho and showing real hunger to slide in ahead of Sevilla keeper Bono and score.
The 20-year-old then added to the lead in the 43rd from close range after a fast breakaway for his 18th goal in 13 Champions League games but Sevilla salvaged some hope of turning the tie around in the second leg on March 9 when Dutch striker Luuk de Jong volleyed home six minutes from time.
Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2021