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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Alex Milne

Juventus legends turn on Cristiano Ronaldo after "unforgivable" mistake in Porto defeat

Juventus legends Fabio Capello and Alessandro Del Piero have hit out at Cristiano Ronaldo for the part he played in the side crashing out of the Champions League last-16 to Porto.

The Italian giants were trailing 2-1 from the first leg in Portugal, and went 1-0 down early on in Turin on Tuesday night.

But Federico Chiesa replied with two goals and Mehdi Taremi was sent off for the visitors to put Juve firmly in the driving seat.

However, they were stunned late in extra time when a Sergio Oliveira free-kick beat Wojciech Szczesny to end Juve's dreams of Champions League glory for another year.

Cristiano Ronaldo has been blamed by some for Juventus' Champions League exit (REUTERS)

Replays showed that Ronaldo turned his back on the free-kick as he stood in the wall.

And their ex-manager Capello blasted the Portuguese superstar for not being braver.

"Certain goals cannot be conceded," he said. "Cristiano Ronaldo jumping and turning in the wall... whoever is in the wall cannot be afraid of being hit.

"It is an unforgivable mistake that has no excuse."

Former Juventus forward Del Piero was also less than impressed, and also pointed out a golden chance from a header Ronaldo missed earlier in the game.

"Cristiano must take some blame, of course," he said. "He did not have many chances but he wasted that header that we should have taken advantage of."

The result means Juventus' quest for Champions League glory must wait for another year, with the Serie A giants not having won the competition since 1996.

Ronaldo turned his back on Porto's match-winning free-kick (ALESSANDRO DI MARCO/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

One of their main reasons for signing Ronaldo from Real Madrid in 2018 was in the hope that he would lead them to European glory, but so far they have failed to progress further than the quarter-final stages with him.

And it is far from certain Ronaldo will be at the club next season, with some suggestions he may make a lucrative move to either China or the United States in the summer.

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