Pirlo: Lackluster Juventus served Porto victory 'on a silver platter'

Andrea Pirlo lamented Juventus’ lackluster performance against FC Porto on Wednesday, claiming his men gifted the Portuguese side a 2-1 victory in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 clash.

Juve inexplicably conceded in the opening seconds of each half, making a calamitous error in possession at the beginning of the match before falling asleep defensively to open the second stanza.

Federico Chiesa scored a potentially precious away goal late to give the Italian side hope heading home for the second leg, but Pirlo was not impressed with his team’s toothless showing.

“The approach was wrong from the first minute,” the rookie manager said, according to Agence France-Presse. “When you concede a goal like this, it’s normal that fear sets in, you lack a bit of certainty.

“Porto are good at closing down and after that goal, it was much more difficult. We served them the match they wanted on a silver platter. Fortunately, we scored an important goal through Chiesa, and now we will focus on the return leg.”

The return leg in Turin is set for March 9.