Juventus once again produced a disappointing performance in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16.

Mehdi Taremi and Moussa Marega scored for Porto with the opening minute of each half, whilst Federico Chiesa provided the vital away goal for the Bianconeri.

So here are some of the lessons we learned from Wednesday’s 2-1 defeat.

Bonucci’s importance to Pirlo’s playing style

Leonardo Bonucci is far from being the most popular player among the Old Lady’s supporters, but the 33-year-old has always been a favorite by the tacticians in charge.

Rodrigo Bentancur had been dropping very deep to support Chiellini and De Ligt in the build up from the back in Leo’s absence, and the result turned out to be disastrous, when the Uruguayan gifted Porto a goal within the opening minute.

Had Bonucci been present, Bentancur’s “services” wouldn’t be needed in this department.

Chiellini probably won’t have another long run

Juve’s resurgence between January and the beginning of February took place at a time when Giorgio Chiellini was enjoying a rare healthy run of matches.

But as we were expecting, the captain unfortunately had to stop once again, with what appears to be another muscular injury.

We must admit that at this point, the 36-year-old is unlikely to enjoy another long run without being plagued with reccuring injuries.

Kulusevski is suffering in the striker role

After being unconvinced by the transfer market options, Juve opted to switch Dejan Kuluseveski from his natural position on the wings into an emergency striker.

Although the former Parma man can be useful in this role on some occasions – especially if the team is playing on the counter attacks – he has been mostly suffering in attack.

Perhaps Pirlo was hoping to play counter attacking football away from home – until his plan was shattered with an early Porto goal – or maybe the Swede was the only available option due to Morata’s sickness, but in all cases, the young man’s talents are being wasted in this role, as he’s often losing the physical duels against the bigger and tougher center backs.