Football

Ferdinand blasts "horrendous" Juventus after Champions League defeat by Porto


Rio Ferdinand branded Juventus’ performance “horrendous” after the Turin giants stumbled to a 2-1 defeat at Porto in the Champions League last 16.

Juventus conceded just 63 seconds into the match as Mehdi Taremi punished a woeful back-pass by Rodrigo Bentancur to beat Wojciech Szczesny from close range.

The Italian side were just as lax in the opening to the second half, with Moussa Marega popping up in the box to double Porto’s advantage in the 46th minute.

Juventus pulled one back through Federico Chiesa late on, but Ferdinand claimed they were “lucky” to score an away goal in his withering post-match assessment.



Taremi took just 63 seconds to open the scoring at Estadio do Dragao
Taremi took just 63 seconds to open the scoring at Estadio do Dragao

“They (Juve) were horrendous, they were so bad,” the former Manchester United and England defender told BT Sport .

“They are lucky to go away from this match with an away goal. Porto set themselves on the right foot in both halves and capitalised on the mistakes from Juventus.

“The intent was there from Porto and they forced them into making mistakes.”



Ferdinand described Juve's display as "so bad"
Ferdinand described Juve’s display as “so bad”

Will Juventus overturn the deficit in the second leg? Have your say in the comments.

Ferdinand’s former teammate and fellow pundit Owen Hargreaves agreed Juventus were second best to Porto.

He added: “That away goal gives Juventus a huge chance but Porto were by far the better team. They didn’t look like a Juventus team tonight.”

Meanwhile, Juve boss Andrea Pirlo admitted his side were far too slow on the ball and pinned this on fatigue in his squad.

“When you take three or four touches on the ball everything becomes slow,” said Pirlo after the match. “We weren’t clever in understanding the game at certain times.

“We knew that they are very good at closing in and after that goal, it was even more difficult.

“Tiredness is normal after so many games, it’s not easy to keep the same rhythm. But when you’re playing in a round of 16 this can’t happen. Fortunately, we got back on track for the return leg with Chiesa’s goal.”

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