Matthijs de Ligt can hardly accept that he is eliminated with Juventus in the Champions League. The Italian top club did not get further than 3-3 against FC Porto after extra time and that was not enough to reach the quarter-finals.
After ninety minutes it was 2-1 and in extra time Porto, which had played with ten men since the 54th minute due to a red card for Mehdi Taremi, tied the score. Adrien Rabiot’s 3-2 was no longer enough for Juventus.
“If you play against ten men for a large part of the game, it is difficult to accept being eliminated like this,” said De Ligt, who made his comeback in the second half as a substitute after coming back from an injury.
“After the first goal against, we started to play better, but that was too late. In the second half we played well, with a lot of speed, chances and goals. Unfortunately the third goal was no longer in regular time.
The elimination is difficult for 21-year-old De Ligt. “This changes a lot in our season, because we wanted to get far in the Champions League. Now it is March and we are already finished. That is difficult.”
Pirlo thinks mistakes have been punished
Juventus coach Andrea Pirlo was of course also disappointed with the elimination. The Italian thinks his team was too sloppy in both games against Porto and is responsible for the final result.
“We made four errors in two games and we got the bill for that. But we have to keep going. It is only March, there are still many games on the schedule,” said Pirlo.
“We have a team with many young players who still have to grow. Now we have more time to work on certain things. It is a great challenge for me to pick up the thread again.”
Juventus’ next game will be on Sunday, when De Ligt’s team will visit Cagliari. In Serie A, ‘Juve’ is ten points behind leader Internazionale, which has played one more match.
View the results and the program in the Champions League
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