Juventus edged closer to the Champions League quarterfinals after second-half goals from Marko Pjaca and Dani Alves earned it a 2-0 away win at 10-man Porto in a last-16 first-leg tie on Wednesday.
Porto’s downfall was partly self-inflicted after left back Alex Telles received a red card in the 27th minute following two senseless bookings in the space of 90 seconds.
Despite holding Juventus at bay for 72 minutes, Porto’s resolve was broken when Miguel Layun deflected Paulo Dybala’s pass into the path of Pjaca who slammed it past Iker Casillas.
Dani Alves made sure of victory two minutes later when he controlled Alex Sandro’s cross with his chest before finishing calmly.
“We can be happy as it’s a really good result, but to be honest after the first-half red card, we had to win this game,” said Juventus midfielder Sami Khedira.
“It’s absolutely not over,” he added. “We’re happy with tonight but in three weeks we’ll need to be careful as Porto are angry and have nothing to lose.”
Meanwhile in Seville, Jamie Vardy gave Leicester City some hope of staying in Europe’s elite competition despite a 2-1 loss to Sevilla.
Pablo Sarabia headed the host into the lead in the 25th minute after Kasper Schmeichel had saved Joaquin Correa's penalty.
Correa made amends by netting in the 62nd.
Sevilla had 80% of possession in the first half, and it took a number of brilliant saves from Schmeichel to keep it in the game.
Vardy made the most of a rare attacking opportunity for the struggling English champion by blasting in a cross from Danny Drinkwater from close range in the 73rd minute and Claudio Ranieri's side was fortunate not to concede late on when Adil Rami’s header smashed against the crossbar.
The results:
At Porto: FC Porto 0 lost to Juventus 2 (Pjaca 72, Dani Alves 74).
At Seville: Sevilla 2 (Sarabia 25, Correa 62) bt Leicester City 1 (Vardy 73) .
