On Tuesday, March 9, 2021, Cristiano Ronaldo was present for Juventus against Porto in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League round of 16 but the Portuguese icon could not do much for his Italian club.
In the first leg of the round, Ronaldo could not do much as Porto defeated the Italian giants 2-1 in Portugal. All Juventus had to do was to defeat Porto in Turin on Tuesday without allowing them to score a goal but they couldn’t.
However, Porto were more determined to knock out the Italian giants which they successfully did by scoring two goals at Turin. Hence the 3-2 win in favor of Juventus could not change anything as Porto scale through to the next round of the competition on away goals rule.
Recall that Lazio knocked out Juventus last season at this stage of the competition on away goals rule under Maurizio Sarri who was sacked days after the competition despite winning the league title that same season.
But the same fate might not befall the current coach of Juventus, Andrea Pirlo who has insisted that the fact that Juventus are out of the Champions League would not stop him from continuing with his plans for the club.
“I don’t know if Sarri was sacked for being eliminated from the Champions League,” Pirlo told Sky Sport Italia.
“I am the Juventus manager at the moment and I will work for a larger project, which goes beyond this season.
“This season is only the beginning of this project. We have young players who are growing game after game. The young players have played with desire and self-denial. We cannot say anything to them, they have given their all.”
UEFA Champions League round of 16: All eyes on Lionel Messi
Now that Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus have been knocked out of the Champions League, all eyes are on FC Barcelona’s Lionel Messi. The 33-year-old Argentine football icon will lead Barcelona to Parc Des Prince to play in form Paris Saint Germain in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League round of 16.
Recall that PSG visited Nou Camp on February 16 and stunned FC Barcelona with a 4-1 defeat. As it stands, Barcelona is expected to defeat PSG with at least 4-0 to scale through to the next round of the Champions League.
ππ«π· ππͺπ¦π―π·π¦π―πΆπ¦ π’Μ ππ’π³πͺπ΄ ! #PSGBarΓ§a pic.twitter.com/F5YlsVwvdS
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) March 9, 2021
Hence, record 6 times Ballon d’Or winner, Messi, is expected to perform some magic to turn the game around in favor of the Spanish giants.
The interesting bout will kick-off at 21:00 tonight, March 10, 2021; it will be a battle between Messi’s magical skills and PSG’s Kylian Mbappe’s unstoppable run.
Realistically, Lionel Messi does not stand a chance of saving FC Barcelona tonight just like his career rival, Ronaldo failed to do the same last night. However, Champions League football is like a biscuit, no one knows where it would crack.
