Having won five UEFA Champions League titles before he joined Juventus, Cristiano Ronaldo was pretty much a sure bet to help the Italian giants in their quest for their first Champions League crown since 1995-96.
And with the Italian side having made two of the last three finals before Ronaldo joined, everything looked like it was moving into place.
However, since the Portuguese megastar joined the Turin-based squad in 2018, the side has not progressed past the quarterfinals in Europe's most prestigious competition, with the glaring stat pointed out by ESPN FC on Twitter after Juventus' stunning exit in the round of 16 at the hands of Porto on Tuesday.
Juventus have failed to progress past the UCL quarterfinals for the third straight season since signing Cristiano Ronaldo.
They had reached the final twice in four years before he joined đź‘€ pic.twitter.com/HwOic9AFpT
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) March 9, 2021
Despite losing the match 3-2, Sergio Oliveria's free kick goal deep into extra time sent the jubilant 10-man Portuguese side into the quarter-finals on away goals, with the matchup ending 4-4 on aggregate.
It's the first time Porto has progressed to the quarter-finals of the Champions League since 2018-19.
For Juventus, it was the second consecutive exit on away goals, having fallen to French side Lyon last year in the quarterfinals.
In Cristiano Ronaldo's first Champions League campaign with Juventus in 2019, the side fell to Dutch side Ajax 3-2 on aggregate, also in the quarters.
Prior to these campaigns and joining Juventus, Ronaldo won three consecutive Champions League medals with his former side Real Madrid, with of those wins coming against Juventus in 2017.
Porto joined German side Borussia Dortmund in the quarterfinals, with either Liverpool or RB Leipzig and either Barcelona or Paris Saint-Germain set to join them on Wednesday with their second leg matches taking place.
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