Well, this tie is probably over. Porto have a huge mountain to climb after this defeat and they’re likely to find the task insurmountable in Turin on 14 March. The game was defined by Alex Telles’s brain fart in the first half, the Porto left-back letting himself down and dropping his team-mates in it with that preposterous red card. Two identical bookings in the space of 74 seconds, for crying out loud! I mean really. Porto held out bravely for as long as possible, but they cracked in the end and Max Allegri’s substitutions made the difference, goals from Marko Pjaca and Dani Alves meaning that Juventus head back to Italy with a commanding 2-0 lead. They’ve got one foot in the last eight and it will take something special from Porto to stop them getting there. That’s all from me for now. Thanks for reading. Good night.
Full-time: Porto 0-2 Juventus
Peep! Peep! Peep! That’s it!
90 min: Two minutes of stoppage time.
89 min: Marcano trips Higuain 30 yards from goal. He’s booked.
87 min: This is so nearly three. Juventus casually stroll through the middle, gliding through Porto’s defence. Sami Khedira looks certain to score as he slides in and reaches the ball before the onrushing Casillas, but his shot drifts just past the post.
86 min: Claudio Marchisio replaces Paulo Dybala.
85 min: Nothing. Juventus break and Herrera picks up a booking for cynically bringing Pjaca down.
84 min: The willing Maxi Pereira wins a corner for Porto on the right. What can they do with this?
Updated
83 min: Juventus are playing out time, keeping the ball, teasing Porto. What Alex Telles would give to have those 74 seconds when he lost his head back.
Updated
81 min: To their credit, the Porto fans are still making a racket, but this game has died a death since those Juventus goals.
78 min: Pjanic takes aim from 20 yards. Deflection. Corner.
77 min: Pjaca, a menace since his introduction, threatens to add a third, but overruns the ball on the right. He settles for a corner.
77 min: Alex Telles has a lot of explaining to do.
GOAL! Porto 0-2 Juventus (Dani Alves, 74 min)
It’s fair to say that Max Allegri has got his substitutions spot on this evening. On the pitch for all of a minute, Dani Alves keeps his cool when a cross from the excellent Alex Sandro reaches him at the far post, controlling with his chest before slashing a volley to the right of the helpless Casillas. This tie is probably over.
Updated
73 min: Dani Alves replaces Stephan Lichtsteiner.
GOAL! Porto 0-1 Juventus (Pjaca, 72 min)
Juventus suddenly increase the tempo after much aimlessness. Paulo Dybala schemes on the edge of the area and attempts to thread a pass through on the right. Fortune favours Juve. His pass is inaccurate, but it deflects off the unlucky Layun and runs to Pjaca, the substitute, who joyously lashes it past Iker Casillas! Juve have been rewarded for their patience. The 10 men’s resistance is over.
Updated
70 min: Brahimi, a rare lively presence in Porto’s attack, jigs around on the right, but overruns the ball down on the right byline.
68 min: This Mandzukic as left winger experiment is producing mixed results. What’s Allegri’s angle here? Is it some kind of punishment for the Croatian target man?
67 min: Juventus make their first change, Marko Pjaca replacing Juan Cuadrado.
66 min: More of this, for example. Gonzalo Higuain, who’s hardly been in the game, shows wonderfully quick feet to throw a couple of Porto defenders off the scent on the edge of the area and earn space for a short. He opens up his body and aims for the far corner, but his curler flies just wide. Casillas didn’t move.
65 min: Juventus are beginning to resort to a fair few crosses from deep positions. They’ve rarely been in behind the Porto defence. They’re playing in front of the hosts a bit too much. They could do with more urgency and invention.
63 min: Is this Juventus side creative enough?
61 min: Jesus Corona - there’s a lot going on in that name - replaces Ruben Neves.
60 min: Porto are just beginning to show signs of losing their shape, leaving room for Juve to run into whenever they venture forward. Sandro again leads the latest charge. His cross is headed away to Khedira, who controls, volleys and watches as the ball drops just wide of the right post. Casillas stood and watched.
59 min: Sandro, a constant threat on the left, fizzes a low centre into the middle. A Juventus attacker - I’m not sure who - arrives late and unmarked, only to take a swing and a miss when the opening goal appeared to be moments away. Porto survive. Portuguese hearts were in mouths there.
58 min: Nothing much is happening. Porto are defending well.
55 min: I jest, before you start. He’s a good player. Don’t hurt me. Back to the action. Sandro’s cross from the left is headed away, but only as far as Pjanic, who perceptively tees up Dybala. Miguel Layun flies across to divert his shot wide. The corner is a waste.
Updated
54 min: Juan Cuadrado wafts a cross behind for a goal-kick. “Ah yes,” say Chelsea fans.
53 min: Dybala pops up in a pocket of space again and pulls the trigger from 25 yards. Straight at Casillas.
52 min: Sami Khedira leans back and bends one miles over the bar, rather summing up Juve’s imprecision in the final third.
Updated
50 min: Lichtsteiner attempts to reach a bouncing ball in the Porto area, but he catches Herrera with a high, late challenge and receives a booking. Cue ironic cheers from the Porto fans.
48 min: Miguel Layun drifts inside from the left and floats a cross towards the far post, over the dozing Alex Sandro and on to the head of Hector Herrera. It’s a magnificent chance for the Porto man, but he mistimes his leap and nods wastefully wide. How costly could that be? Porto are unlikely to get many more openings.
Updated
47 min: The replays suggest that Hector Herrera might have been playing Dybala onside.
46 min: Juventus get the game going again. Within a minute, the ball’s in the Porto net, but the flag’s up for offside against Paulo Dybala, who hammers his shot high into Iker Casillas’s net.
Updated
Exclusive footage of Felix Brych versus Alex Telles.
Half-time: Porto 0-0 Juventus
Jeers from the home fans greet Felix Brych’s half-time whistle, but Porto have no one but themselves to blame for their current difficulties. They can’t point at the officials. They’re down to 10 men for no reason other than monumental rashness from Alex Telles, whose left his team-mates in a hole after his early red card. They’re hanging on for now, but Juventus are likely to step it up in the second half.
45 min+2: Maxi Pereira picks up a booking for a wild hack on Mario Mandzukic, who’ll definitely be looking to trouble the right-back with his pace now!
45 min+1: A corner to Juventus on the right. They take it short. They pass the ball around for a while. Eventually it’s worked to Dybala, in space, and he lets fly with his left foot from 25 yards. His low zinger whooshes past Casillas this time, away to the Porto goalkeeper’s left, and the hosts are mightily relieved to see it clang off the base of the post and to safety.
43 min: Dashing left wing whizzkid Mario Mandzukic hoicks a hopeful ball into the middle with his right foot. Nope.
42 min: The marauding Alex Sandro wins a corner on the left. He’s shown more urgency than anyone so far. But his good work counts for little. Casillas comfortably claims the corner.
41 min: “Juventus looked to be in pretty decent “surrounding the referee” form there in the 5th minute when they didn’t like a call but Porto really showed their opponents how it’s done on that red card,” says JR in Illinois. “Virtually perfect execution. You’d think Mourinho was still their manager. The ref had every right to hand out about six cards at that point.”
39 min: Alex Sandro probes down the left again and slides a low centre towards Higuain, whose shot takes a deflection off Felipe and briefly appears to be heading inside the bottom right corner. Casillas reacts smartly, though, and dives to his right to push the ball past the post. The Porto goalkeeper’s movement didn’t appear to be hindered there. The corner amounts to nothing.
Updated
37 min: Porto are annoyed with Felix Brych’s refusal to book Sami Khedira for a handball. The referee isn’t interested. The Portuguese side feel they’re not getting the rub of the green with the decisions. Moments later, Yacine Brahimi crumples on the left. He’s told to get up, heightening the sense of injustice in the stands. That prompts an outpouring of noise from the home stands. This isn’t really what Juventus need. They won’t want any controversy.
Updated
36 min: Casillas is trying to run it off. He’s staying on for now. Juventus might want to test his movement.
35 min: More problems for Porto. Iker Casillas is grimacing and clutching a hamstring. He might not be able to continue. Jose Sa, the home side’s reserve goalkeeper, is warming up.
34 min: Piercing whistles greet a long spell of Juventus possession. It’s doubtful that will be enough to put them off. Alex Sandro hoicks a dangerous ball into the area and Khedira arrives late, but his header drops wide.
Updated
33 min: Porto are sitting deep now and no wonder. They’re inviting Juventus on, asking the Italians if they can pick the lock. Miralem Pjanic decides to have a go from long range. His low fizzer is straight at Casillas.
31 min: It’s often harder to play against 10 men, you know.
30 min: Porto make the inevitable defensive change, Miguel Layun replacing Andre Silva.
28 min: Those yellow cards arrived in the space of 74 seconds. Dearie me, what a laughable buffoon. This is going to be an almighty struggle for Porto now and Juve almost make them pay straight away, only for Cuadrado’s effort from 18 yards to whistle just off target.
Alex Telles is sent off! Porto are down to 10 men!
27 min: This is absurd! Booked barely a minute ago, Alex Telles flies into another unnecessary challenge on Stephan Lichtsteiner on the right touchline and sends him flying! Juve’s players are fuming and they crowd Felix Brych, imploring the German referee to show a second yellow. He’ll be very lucky if he gets away with this. And Brych isn’t in a mood to let him off, rightly flashing a yellow and then a red in the Porto left-back’s face. He can’t have any complaints after displaying such indiscipline. Porto will have to play with 10 men for more than an hour.
Updated
26 min: Juve have had 66% possession.
25 min: It’s been a while. But Porto are enjoying some sustained possession in Juve’s half. It doesn’t last long, though. A slack pass and the ball’s back in Juve’s possession. Moments later, Alex Telles foolishly steams in on Juan Cuadrado from behind and stands on the back of his ankle on the right touchline. He didn’t need to make that challenge, but he did, and he’s booked, for rank stupidity more than anything else.
Updated
23 min: A throw to Juventus on the left. Sandro chucks it inside and Higuain flicks it on to Dybala, who’s left unattended on the edge of the area. That feels like a mistake. You can’t give that much space to a player this good. Porto get away with it, though, because Dybala is stretching and sliding as he shoots and his 20-yarder flies harmlessly over. He looks anguished. He might have shown more accuracy there.
21 min: Mario Mandzukic appears to be playing as a left winger tonight. It’s not a role that seems to play to his strengths. But who knows? Perhaps we’re watching the next Ryan Giggs. He’s almost through here as well. Higuain, standing offside, allows a long punt to run on to Mandzukic. But he doesn’t have the legs to reach it before Iker Casillas, who storms out to boot clear.
Updated
18 min: Higuain and Dybala combine deliciously on the edge of the Porto area. Higuain backheels to Dybala, who instantly flicks it back to the forward, sending him through on goal. He’s just onside. But he wants too long and Marcano denies him with a brilliantly timed sliding challenge. That is wonderful defending from the Porto centre-back, who’s prevented a certain goal. Reprieved, Porto spring up the other end, but Soares lacks conviction on the left and coughs up possession too tamely.
17 min: There had been 42 goals at the equivalent stage of the City-Monaco match last night. But these two sides have yet to treat us to a goalscoring opportunity. An intriguing tactical battle awaits.
Updated
16 min: Juventus are beginning to look like the home side. Which might be a concern for Porto. Unless they’re planning to hit them on the break. If so, nothing to see here.
14 min: Juventus are beginning to dominate and Khedira barrels into the area on the left. He almost finds Higuain in space, but the ball doesn’t reach him, Marcano in the way with an important interception. The ball comes back to Alex Sandro, but he hammers it over the bar from long range. Neither keeper has been tested yet, both sides yet to find their range in front of goal.
12 min: Juan Cuadrado rolls around a bit, holding his ankle after a foul by Ruben Neves. It’s all a bit scrappy at the moment. There had already been 23 goals at the equivalent stage of the Manchester City versus Monaco match last night. Come on, lads, what gives?
Updated
11 min: Juventus work their way promisingly down the right flank, but Lichtsteiner’s cross is aimless. The Italians are feeling their way into this, though, and they’re beginning to enjoy more possession now.
10 min: A free-kick to Juventus 40 yards from goal, a chance to load the Porto area. Or not. Pjanic decides to shoot. He does not score. The big men give him a few dirty looks as they chug back into position.
9 min: Juventus acquaint themselves with the Porto half for the first time, Alex Sandro driving powerfully down the left. Maxi Pereira keeps him away from danger, though.
Updated
8 min: Brahimi drops back on to his favoured right foot on the left and sends an inswinger into the area. Chiellini clears as far as Ruben Neves, who ignores support to his right and rams a volley miles over from 30 yards. That was a touch ambitious from the midfielder.
6 min: Brahimi does the gentlemanly thing and delicately feathers the free-kick a few yards over the bar, Buffon waving it away to safety. Juventus are still seething, though.
5 min: Andre Silva bursts through the middle and falls under a fairly tame challenge from Chiellini. Peep! The whistle is blown. Free-kick to Porto, 25 yards out in a central position. Juventus are furious. They think Silva dived. They’ll be even more annoyed if Brahimi plonks this into the top corner.
4 min: Porto are seeing most of the ball early on. As Atletico Madrid demonstrated against Bayer Leverkusen last night, possession doesn’t always count for everything.
3 min: In the heart of Juve’s defence, Chiellini and Barzagli are both back from thigh injuries. No sign of Bonucci, though. He’s in the stands after a bust-up with Max Allegri. It must be nice to be able to drop a defender as good as Bonucci and not suffer a drop in quality in defence.
And we’re off! Porto, in dark blue, get the ball rolling. They’re kicking from right to left in the first half. Juventus are in white.
Here come the teams, led out by Felix Brych at the Estadio Dragao. There’s plenty of shouting in foreign in the tunnel. Using my keen translation skills, I assume that was either Portuguese or Italian for one of “Come on, lads, let’s ‘ave it, this lot don’t fahkin’ fancy it” or “Good game, old bean, best of luck out there”.
Updated
While we wait for kick-off, some quick pre-match reading. It’s Matt Gault on the men who made Antonio Conte, once of Juventus.
Elsewhere in Europe, there’s been a big shock in La Liga. Valencia have just beaten Real Madrid 2-1! There’s light at the end of the tunnel for Barcelona! It was some game and it featured a stunning goal from Simone Zaza, on loan at Valencia from Juventus. West Ham fans might find that hard to believe.
"WHAT A GOAL FROM ZAZA! SENSATIONAL!"
— Sky Sports La Liga (@revistadelaliga) February 22, 2017
Watch on SS1 or follow here: https://t.co/xuIPbmxQb9 https://t.co/dwvstu9EXm
Updated
Porto make changes from the side that thumped Tondela 4-0 on Saturday. In come Yacine Brahimi, Hector Herrera and Danilo. Out go Otavio, Andre Andre and Jesus Corona.
Juventus also hit four on the weekend. They conceded one against Palermo. Three points for them! And a few changes too. Out go Dani Alves, Mehdi Benatia, Leonardo Bonucci, Marko Pjaca, Claudio Marchisio and Stefana Sturaro, to be replaced by Stefan Lichtsteiner, Andrea Barzagli, Giorgio Chiellini, Juan Cuadrado, Miralem Pjanic and Mario Mandzukic.
Updated
The teams!
Porto: Casillas; Pereira, Marcano, Felipe, Telles; Danilo; Herrera, Neves, Brahimi; Silva, Soares. Subs: Sa, Boly, Corona, Andre, Layun, Jota, Torres.
Juventus: Buffon; Lichtsteiner, Barzagli, Chiellini, Sandro; Khedira, Pjanic; Cuadrado, Dybala; Mandukic, Higuain. Subs: Neto, Benatia, Marchisio, Pjaca, Asamoah, Alves, Rugani.
Referee: Felix Brych (Germany).
Preamble
Hello. In what appears an intriguingly open field, indeed one that may well turn out to be one of the most competitive this competition has witnessed in years, this looks like a wonderful chance for Juventus to win the Champions League for the first time since 1996. Without an obvious favourite, it’s up for grabs this season. Real Madrid and Bayern Munich both stand out, of course, as do Atletico Madrid, while Paris Saint-Germain will fancy their chances after duffing up Barcelona last week. Don’t rule out Borussia Dortmund if they get past Benfica. Seville know what it takes to win a European competition. Perhaps Manchester City’s attacking brilliance will cancel out their comedy stylings at the back. These are all top sides - but are these sides as top, top as Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona, say, or even the Bayern of Jupp Heynckes, Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United or Roberto Di Matteo’s Chelsea?
There’s plenty of time for any of those contenders to reach that level, but at the moment picking a winner isn’t easy (which is just the way the European Cup should be, but that’s another debate for another day), and that means it could be the year Juventus, who were beaten finalists in 1997, 1998, 2003 and 2015. It’s been business as usual for the Italian champions despite the summer sale of Paul Pogba and Max Allegri’s side are running away with Serie A again, six straight wins taking them seven points clear of Roma, their closest challengers. Tough and talented, they probably had a good old chuckle at some ... okay, all of the defending on show at the Etihad last night, and they’ve got goals in them too, with their two Argentinian forwards, Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuain, a match for any defence in Europe. Losing Pogba was a blow, but they bought cannily, bringing in Dani Alves, Higuain and Miralem Pjanic.
Whether they quite have enough star quality to go all the way remains to be seen, but it would certainly be a surprise if they fail to reach the quarters at least. Not that Porto should be written off. True, they finished second to Leicester City in their group, which, using logic, means that they would probably be bottom of the Premier League right now. But Porto have plenty of European experience, are unbeaten in all competitions since September and lie a point behind Benfica at the top of the Primeira Liga, having lost just one league game this season. They’ll be up against it tonight and in the second leg in Turin, but perhaps they’ll take inspiration from the scare they have Bayern in Portugal two years ago. Porto going through definitely isn’t out of the question. But it does feel as though it would be monumentally careless on Juve’s part to waste this opportunity.
Kick-off: 7.45pm GMT.
Updated
.jpg?w=600)
