Juventus boss Andrea Pirlo has defended his side’s approach against Porto after they got knocked out of the Champions League.
Pirlo says Juventus would not have done anything differently as he watched his side bow out of the competition to Porto on Tuesday night.
The Bianconeri crashed out of the Champions League in the Round of 16, despite the fact Porto were down to 10 men from the 54th minute.
Even in extra time, they were only able to scrape a 3-2 win on the night. At the end of the day, Pirlo and company went out on away goals, 4-4 on aggregate.
Over recent seasons, Juventus have been knocked out of the Champions League by Ajax and most recently by Lyon last season. However, their latest exit to Porto would come as the one that hurt the most.
Speaking after the game, Pirlo was quick to defend his side and insists they didn’t get it wrong.
“When you make four big errors over two legs in the Champions League Round of 16, you can get eliminated,” he told Sky Sport Italia.
“We didn’t get it wrong when Porto were down to 10, as all we could do was try to spread them out by moving the ball side to side and packing the penalty area with bodies. That is how the goals arrived.”
“It will take a few days to cancel this game from our minds, but then we must face every game with the right attitude, realise we’re still only in March and have time to climb the Serie A table.”
Conceding the first goal to Porto on the evening might have been the beginning of problems for Juventus. However, Pirlo once again insists his players started the game as well as they could have.
“We had started well and there was a chance with Alvaro Morata to take the lead immediately. It didn’t go in, there was an error for the penalty, we could’ve conceded a second, but then played the game we should’ve done in the second half, helped also by the extra man.”
“I don’t think our starts are a problem. We knew Porto would play like this, the game could change if we scored in the opening minutes. When you concede, then it becomes a completely different match.”
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