Cristiano Ronaldo converted the 97th-minute penalty kick to seal Real Madrid’s berth into the semifinals of the tournament, 4-3 on aggregate, despite losing the match to the Italian champions, 3-1.
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Gianluigi Buffon harshly complained against the referee for awarding a late penalty and sending him off in what was likely his final Champions League match on Wednesday.
Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo says he did not understand Juventus players’ furious protests – including a straight red card for visiting goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon – at the 93rd-minute penalty which the Portugal global scored to decide Wednesday’s dramatic Champions League quarterfinal second leg at the Bernabeu.
The referee had wasted no time to point to the spot, the ensuing argument over the propriety or otherwise of the decision had threatened to snowball into a chaotic exchange emotions reached boiling point.
Mario Mandzukic’s first-half brace stunned the Santiago Bernabeu before a awful error from Keylor Navas saw Blaise Matuidi wipe out what remained of Madrid’s commanding 3-0 first-leg advantage. “But we are happy and we are in the semi-finals”.
But Madrid managed to deny the rallying visitors after Lucas Vazquez was fouled by Medhi Benatia – Cristiano Ronaldo stepping up to convert the stoppage-time goal. “We always want to win everything but sometimes, like this year, we are not consistent”, Zidane said.
“I really don’t understand why they were protesting, but football is like that”, he said. “Lucas was pushed from behind and if the penalty was given, it’s a goal”.
Juventus looked to have staged a stunning revival at the Santiago Bernabeu to force extra time after Mario Mandzukic scored twice in the first half and Blaise Matuidi added a third on the hour mark after a goalkeeping clanger from Real’s Keylor Navas.
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Sergio Ramos faces an anxious wait to discover if he will miss Real Madrid’s Champions League semi-final. It would have been hard for us not to have scored in this game because we had so many chances but that’s football. It wasn’t to punish Gareth, I just didn’t like the way the whole team was playing.
