Tonight Porto are playing Juventus in the first leg of the last 16 in the Champions League.
Embed from Getty ImagesGoing in the game Porto has drawn four games on the bounce and finished second in the group stage of the competition earlier in the season, finishing behind Manchester City.
Their opponents tonight are the Italian league champions, Juventus. The Italian side lost at the weekend to Napoli 1-0 and will need need to improve or they will be knocked out of the Champions League.
Embed from Getty ImagesPorto have made four changes to the side that tied to Boavista 2-2. Chancel Mbemba and Zaidu Sanusi are playing in defence replacing Diogo Leite and Malang Sarr. The other two changes for Porto is in midfield with Mateus Uribe and Otávio have been bought into the side replacing Fábio Vieira and João Mário.
Juventus have made three changes to their side that lost at the weekend to Napoli 1-0.
Alex Sandro has come into the with Danilo switching the right-back due to Juan Cuadrado getting injured. The American, Weston McKennie, is in the side replacing Federico Bernardeschi and Dejan Kulusevski is in the squad instead of Alvaro Morata.
Juventus will be hoping that Kulusevski can score for his side tonight after the Italian champions failed to score at the weekend.
In the group stage of the competition, Juventus won five out of their six games and were able to finish above Barcelona.
Porto on the other hand finished second in their group with Manchester City beating them to first place in the group stage. Porto still done well in the group stage winning four out of their six games and finishing above Olympiacos and Marseille.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe last time the two teams played each other was in 2017 when Juventus beat Porto 3-0 on aggregate at this exact same stage of the competition in 2017.
Embed from Getty ImagesJuventus were knocked out of the Champions League last season after losing to Lyon via the away goal rule. Part of Juventus’s downfall as that they failed to score an away goal in the first leg. They will be hoping to do better this time if they are going to do better in this competition this season.
The last time Porto reached this stage of the competition was in 2019 where they beat Roma 4-3 on aggregate. The Portuguese side lost the first leg in the tie against Roma but was able to recover in the second leg winning the game 3-1 after extra time.
The two sides are coming to now as the game will be starting in a few minutes.
KICK OFF: Ronaldo kicks off the game in Portugal tonight in the Champions League.
2nd min: GOAL FOR PORTO: HUGE MISTAKE FROM RODRIGO BENTANCUR. Shocking goal to concede from Juventus as Porto score 61 seconds into the game. Bentancur played a sloppy pass to his Goalkeeper which didn’t have enough wait on the pass and Mehdi Taremi punished the Italian side as Porto take a surprising early lead.
5th min: Juventus have done a good job in recovering after conceding an early goal. They have kept possession of the ball well since they conceded making sure that they don’t go any further behind in the game.
8th min: Porto are looking very organised while defending so far in the game today. The Portuguese side haven’t conceded a goal since the first round of fixtures in the Champions League this season. Gone five games without conceding a goal.
10th min: Good start from Porto in the game as they are looking the more threatening side after their early goal. Juventus will need to improve or they will go further behind in the game.
13th min: Juventus failed to put pressure on Sérgio Oliveira who took a shot from outside the penalty area but couldn’t get the shot on target.
17th min: Cristiano Ronaldo has barely touched the ball all game. The Portuguese superstar will want to make an impact on his homecoming game in Portugal.
19th min: Juventus have made another error in defence losing the ball while playing out the back. The Italian side has been shocking so far today and haven’t got started tonight.
23rd min: Another mistake with Juventus playing out the back, this time with Szczęsny losing the ball but Chiellini was able to block the shot from Oliveria. The Italian Champions are playing like a semi-professional side tonight so far.
Mehdi celebrating the early Porto goal.
26th min: Pepe does well to block the shot of his Portuguese international teammate, Ronaldo, denying him a chance in scoring an equaliser.
30th min: Andrea Pirlo will be fuming with how his side has performed so far in the game. They have been sloppy in possession and haven’t looked great when defending.
34th min: SUBSITUTUON FOR JUVENTUS. Chiellini is off due to injury with Merih Demiral replacing the Juventus captain.
38th min: Juventus has done well in keeping Ronaldo quiet in the game so far. The top goalscorer in the competition’s history hasn’t had a clear chance tonight.
41st min: Bicycle kick attempt from Rabiot which forced a good save from the Porto goalkeeper Marchesín. However, there was an offside early in the play and Porto has a free-kick inside their penalty area.
45th min: Juventus are looking at their most dangerous from set-pieces. This time Demiral had a chance inside the penalty area with a header but couldn’t direct the ball to the goal.
HALF TIME: Good first half from Porto taking an early lead and putting Juventus under a lot of pressure. The Italian side has been terrible so far and Pirlo will want his side to improve in the second half.
Second half has started with Porto restarting the game.
46th min: GOAL FOR PORTO: Another early goal in the half for Porto this time for Moussa Marega. The Porto striker received the ball inside the penalty area and was very calm in placing the ball in the back of the net. Porto have now doubled their lead and Juventus look shellshocked again. Only took TWENTY SECONDS for Porto to score in the second half.
50th min: Better Juventus getting in behind the Porto defence but Uribe was able to recover and get the block in as the ball goes out for a corner.
52nd min: Oliveira has added a third for his side has the Juventus defence opened up with ease as the central midfielder was able to get a shot off which went straight at Szczęsny. Juventus needs to wake up if they are going to get back in this tie.
56th min: WOW Juventus have been terrible so far. They seem to lack ideas when they are on the ball and Kulusevski has just tripped on the ball.
57th min: SUBSITUTION FOR PORTO: Otávio off for Luis Díaz.
60th min: Porto seem very happy since going 2-0 up to just sit back and just let Juventus keep the ball. Pirlo will be putting his boots on soon to add some creativity for his side.
63rd min: YELLOW CARD. De Ligt picks up a yellow card after a long passage of play. The referee played the advantage when the Dutch defender committed the foul but has gone back and cautioned the defender.
64th min: SUBSITUTION FOR JUVENTUS: Weston McKennie is off for Alvaro Morata.
65th min: SUBSITUTION FOR PORTO: Marega has come off for Marko Grujić. The Porto striker will be happy with his contributions in the game so far.
66th min: A long-range attempt from Bentancur almost caught out the Porto goalkeeper. At least Juventus fans can celebrate a shot on goal.
70th min: CLOSE FOR JUVENTUS: Chiesa was almost able to get his sides first goal in the tie thanks to a deflection from a Porto defender but the shot was well saved by Marchesín.
74th min: Good shot from the edge of the area from Oliveira again with Juventus not closing him down again. Shot well held from Szczęsny in the Juventus.
77th min: SUBSTITUTION FOR JUVENTUS: Aaron Ramsey is on for Kulusevski.
80th min: Opportunity for Grujić from a corner with a header but couldn’t get it on target. The Porto substitute should have headed the ball back across the goal.
81st min: YELLOW CARD FOR JUVENTUS: Danilo picks up a yellow card which means he is missing the next game due to suspension.
82nd min: GOAL FOR JUVENTUS. That’s the vital away goal Juventus was looking for as Chiesa scores for the away side. Good play from Rabiot from out wide to cross the ball to Chiesa who hit the ball into the ground which made it impossible for the Porto goalkeeper to make a save.
Huge goal in the tie for Juventus as they have scored the away goal they were looking for.
85th min: The game has livened up since the Juventus goal as they are looking to score another one which will mean they are drawing the tie going into the second leg.
87th min: YELLOW CARD FOR JUVENTUS. Demiral picks up a yellow and will also be missing the second leg of the game due to suspension.
91st min: SUBSITUTIONS FOR PORTO: Oliveira and Corona Mamadou Loum are off for Mamadou Loum and Francisco Conceição.
93rd min: YELLOW CARD FOR JUVENTUS. Alex Sandro takes on for the team stopping a Porto counter-attack.
94th min: PENALTY APPEAL FOR JUVENTUS. Ronaldo appealing for a penalty but the referee turned it down. It looked like Ronaldo fell over on the football.
FULL TIME: Good win for Porto but will be disappointed that they conceded the late away goal. Juventus was terrible today sloppy in possession and only seemed to have tried with the last ten minutes.
The two sides will play each other in March in Turin where Juventus will need to score to have a chance in getting into the quarter-final.
For more Champions League action click here.
Check out more Overtime Football content by clicking here.
For more sport including Cricket, American Football, Motorsport and Wrestling, click here.
