United did nothing to win, we gifted it to them: Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo could not hide his frustration that, despite scoring his first Champions League goal for Juventus, the Italian side "gifted" a dramatic late 2-1 victory to Manchester United yesterday morning (Singapore time).
Ronaldo struck with a magnificent volley on 65 minutes to leave Juve on course for the knockout phase, but Juan Mata equalised with an 86th-minute free-kick before Leonardo Bonucci scored an own-goal.
It was the 121st goal in the competition for five-time Champions League winner Ronaldo whom Juventus are counting on to help them lift their first European title since 1996.
Instead, they must now wait for the remaining games against Valencia and Young Boys to seal their passage to the next round.
"United did nothing to win the game," Ronaldo told Sky Sports Italia.
"We dominated for 90 minutes, had so many chances, could have killed it off three or four times, but we relaxed and were punished.
"You can't even talk about luck, because you have to find your own luck and, in this case, we just gifted it to them."
Sami Khedira and Paulo Dybala both hit the woodwork before five-time Ballon d'Or winner Ronaldo brought the capacity 41,470 crowd to their feet when he hammered home Bonucci's long pass from just inside United's half.
United, though, had the final word as manager Jose Mourinho brought on Mata and Marouane Fellaini, who helped turn the game around in just four minutes, the Spaniard bending in a free-kick from the edge of the box to give the visitors a scarcely deserved equaliser.
Juve were then shocked as Ashley Young's free-kick from the left bounced in off a combination of Bonucci and Alex Sandro after a scramble in front of goal.
Juventus coach Massimilano Allegri bemoaned the Serie A champions' lapses in concentration as they fell to their first defeat this season. Said Allegri: "That's exactly when I get angry with my team, when from time to time they go to sleep.
"We need to improve our finishing... We aren't managing to finish off matches when we have good chances to do so. Against United, we gave away too many free-kicks and that was the only way they were going to score.
"We need to keep working - this shows that good performances are not always enough."
Captain Giorgio Chiellini said the team must bounce back quickly, ahead of a Serie A game against AC Milan on Monday morning (Singapore time).
He said: "We have to learn from this match, if we want to get to (the final) in June." - AFP
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