Matthijs de Ligt admits that Juventus’ exit from the Champions League at the hands of FC Porto changes their season.
The Bianconeri faced a tough test in trying to beat the Portuguese giants in the second after falling 2-1 behind from the first leg.
They needed to be perfect to earn the win that would take them to the next round, but that didn’t happen.
Completely against what they would have wanted, Porto took the lead, but the Bianconeri equalized and their visitors had a man sent off.
They played much of the game with 10 men, yet Juve could only score one goal more in normal time and the game had to be decided by extra time.
Porto scored another goal, although Juve won the game 3-2, the visitors went through on away goals.
De Ligt admitted that it was a loss that is tough to take considering how long their visitors had been down to 10 men.
“This is really tough. When you play against 10 for almost the whole match, it’s always tough to then go out like this,” De Ligt told Sky Sport Italia via Football Italia.
“I don’t think we started badly tonight. Porto went 1-0 up and then we started playing, so that was too late. We did well in the second half with pace, chances, two goals, but in the end, the ball didn’t go into the net.
“Of course the game changes the season, because we want to be in the Champions League and now we are out in March. This is very difficult for us.”
