It was a disastrous evening for Cristiano Ronaldo, who currently finds himself in the toughest year that he has had to face since moving to Juventus FC in 2018. Last night, they were knocked out of the last-16 of the UEFA Champions League after losing out on away goals against Porto.

Despite winning the second leg 3-2, Juventus was taken out by Porto's superior away goal tally after the tie ended 4-4 on aggregate.

What makes the exit a bigger blow for Ronaldo, is how Porto's final goal of the night in the 115th minute went through his legs. It was late into extra time and not only did Ronaldo fail to contribute on the scoresheet, he was also humiliated by Sergio Oliveira's long-range free-kick.

Porto
Porto players celebrate after beating Juventus to reach the Champions League quarter-finals AFP / Marco BERTORELLO

This is the second season in a row that Juventus has been eliminated in the last-16 of the Champions League. They lost to Lyon on the same stage in 2020. The year before that, in Ronaldo's first season since arriving in Turin from Real Madrid, they were taken out in the quarter-finals by Ajax.

The dismal results are truly a disappointment, considering the fact that it was highly publicised during his move to Turin in the summer of 2018 that the goal was to win the Champions League. Juventus is seeking European glory after having already been dominating the Serie A for most of the past decade. After Ronaldo won four UCL titles with Real Madrid during his spell at the Spanish capital, he seemed to be the obvious talisman that could bring Juve the coveted trophy.

Interestingly, that domestic domination is also falling apart. Not only did they win by only a single point in 2019-2020, they are also in real danger of failing to complete a 10-season winning streak. They have now fallen to third place in the league table, ten points behind leaders Inter Milan.

With 12 games to go, the Serie A title appears to have already been lost, unless both Milan teams implode in the coming weeks.

There is still a chance to lift the Coppa Italia on May 19 when they face Atalanta.

Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo AFP / Marco BERTORELLO
Cristiano Ronaldo