Juventus suffered a painful night on Tuesday, but the neutral fan enjoyed a wonderful match in the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 in front of 10 players from Porto, and after an exciting 120 minutes the result was another early exit for the Italian champions from the competition.

The exit against Olympique Lyon - in the same round last season - cost former coach Maurizio Sarri his position, while a year earlier, Massimiliano Alegre's team lost to the unbeaten Ajax Amsterdam in the Round of 8.

Although Andrea Pirlo, the third coach of Juventus in 3 years, bears some responsibility for the recent disaster, the main page of the newspaper "Corriere dello Sport" - published on Wednesday - directed a lot of anger towards Cristiano Ronaldo, where I wrote in its headline "Betrayal." Ronaldo. "

An unforgivable mistake

Sergio Oliveira's re-goal in the 115th minute from a free kick showed that Ronaldo spoiled the defensive wall by turning his back on the Porto player's low shot, as it went into the net of Wojciech Chesney.

European Champions League

⚽️🥅 A goal and the most beautiful of Sergio Olvera passes from the wall of Juventus and from Ronaldo without the Italian team noticing to put a player on the ground # beINUCL #UCL pic.twitter.com/5r5zCMD7hn

- beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) March 9, 2021

Speaking to Sky Italia, former Juventus coach Fabio Capello said, "Ronaldo has already turned his back before the ball. This is a big mistake."

"When you are within the defensive wall, you know you can take a heavy hit from the shot. This is an unforgivable mistake, and he has no excuses," he added.

The incident topped what was already one of the 36-year-old's worst matches with the Turin-based club, with his rating in major Italian newspapers only 4.5 out of 10.

The disappointment in Ronaldo centers on the fact that Juventus paid 100 million euros (118.85 million dollars) to Real Madrid in 2018 for his services, specifically in order to win the Champions League.

Juventus lost twice in the Champions League final in 4 years before the arrival of the Portuguese captain, and the club is confident that hiring the competition's historic top scorer will push him a step forward.

But the defeat against Porto saw Juventus leave the Champions League for the first time in the Round of 16 in two consecutive years.

"The contracting process with Ronaldo has been negative so far," said Paulo Condo, an analyst at Sky Italia. "He was contracted to compete at the highest level in the Champions League, because Juventus had already won the league title with players who were not good or expensive."

"The team qualified for the Champions League Final twice, losing one to Lionel Messi and the other against Ronaldo, so Juventus needed to sign one of them to win the title. In the last two years his teammates have failed, and this year he has also collapsed," he added.

Value for a price

Ronaldo single-handedly saved Juventus from eliminating the last 16 in his first season, scoring a hat-trick against Atletico Madrid and reversing the first leg defeat.

The Portuguese striker scored two goals against Lyon last season.

Individual brilliance was expected of him in Europe when Juventus signed him on a huge contract for 4 years, but there were no signs of that against Porto.

Ronaldo earns 31 million euros a year at Juventus, according to press reports, which is 23 million euros more than Mattis de Licht, the second highest-paid player in the team.

There is already speculation about whether Juventus will sell Ronaldo this summer when he enters the final year of his contract, after the club announced worrying financial results last month.

Juventus losses reached 113 million euros in the period from July to December 2020 in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis, compared to 50.3 million euros in the same period of the previous year.

European Champions League

Chiesa keeps Juve's hopes up after scoring the equalizer in D. 49 # beINUCL #UCL pic.twitter.com/WI5kV0g6W2

- beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) March 9, 2021

And if Ronaldo is gone, it is clear where the future lies. Federico Chiesa scored an impressive double against Porto and the 23-year-old enjoyed a great first season in Turin since his move from Fiorentina.

And with the likes of De Ligt (21), Weston McKinney (22) and Diane Kulusevski (20) playing regularly under Pirlo, the backbone of Juventus' young squad is already in place when he decides to move forward.