Juventus reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League for only the second time in four years after a 1-0 win over 10-man Porto gave th...
Juventus reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League for only the second time in four years after a 1-0 win over 10-man Porto gave them a 3-0 aggregate victory.
The Italian champions’ 2-0 win in Portugal three weeks earlier ensured they went into the second leg in a comfortable position, and there was to be no miraculous fightback from Porto when Maxi Pereira was sent-off for deliberate handball after 40 minutes.
His indiscretion allowed Paulo Dybala to score from the penalty spot and Juventus went on to keep their sixth clean sheet in eight Champions League matches, extending an unbeaten run of home games that reaches back to August 2015.
Beaten finalists in 2015, Juventus have failed to win Europe’s top competition since 1996 but Massimiliano Allegri’s side are clinical in attack and imperious in defence, conceding just twice in the tournament this season.
Porto, who had scored 12 goals without reply in their three games between the two legs against Juventus, left Turin having had their game plan ruined not only by Pereira’s moment of madness but by an impenetrable defensive unit marshalled by Leonardo Bonucci and Medhi Benatia.
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