AMID the post-match celebrations to mark a result that edged Juventus that little bit closer to reaching their first Champions League final for 12 years, there must have remained a deep sense of regret within Fernando Llorente.
The Italian side were already 2-1 up when the former Athletic Bilbao striker replaced Alvaro Morata 12 minutes from time. An early strike from Morata, a former prodigy at Real Madrid, had been cancelled out by Cristiano Ronaldo before Carlos Tevez had edged The Old Lady back in front with an expertly-converted penalty just before the hour-mark.
Llorente possesses a pedigree in scoring against Real at this level, netting twice in two games in the group stages last season. When it mattered most, though, he lost his composure
With the match two minutes into injury-time, Andrea Pirlo delivered a trademark free-kick to the back post. Llorente was waiting, unmarked. He failed to show the necessary conviction when heading the ball, though, and his weak effort from just a matter of yards bounced off the turf and was held by goalkeeper Iker Casillas at the second attempt.
Juventus had taken the game to the reigning champions from the first whistle with Tevez influential. Six minutes in, a low shot from the right from the former Manchester United striker could only be pushed into Morata's path by Casillas and he converted from close-range, refusing to celebrate the goal against a club that possesses an option to buy him back in the future.
Ronaldo then scored the 76th goal of his Champions League career on 27 minutes to nudge ahead of Barcelona's Lionel Messi in the all-time standings. James Rodriguez lofted a perfect cross across the face of goal and the Portuguese star was left with the simplest of opportunities.
Rodriguez should have put the visitors in front in the 41st minute when he met an Isco cross with a diving header, which struck the bar before Marcelo knocked the rebound over.
However, English referee Martin Atkinson pointed to the spot when Tevez was brought down by Daniel Carvajal in the 56th minute and the Argentinian scored to set up a mouthwatering second leg in the Bernabeu.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article