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Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo 'doesn't understand' Juventus protests against last-gasp penalty

Lucas Vazquez was bundled over in the box by Mehdi Benatia in the third minute of added time and Oliver pointed to the spot

Thursday 12 April 2018 07:36 BST
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Cristiano Ronaldo held his nerve to put Real in the semi-finals
Cristiano Ronaldo held his nerve to put Real in the semi-finals

Cristiano Ronaldo insists referee Michael Oliver was right to award Real Madrid the injury-time penalty which he dispatched to send his side through to the Champions League semi-finals.

After Juventus had wiped out Real's three-goal advantage from the first leg with a Mario Mandzukic double and Blaise Matuidi's second-half goal, Lucas Vazquez was bundled over in the box by Mehdi Benatia in the third minute of added time and Oliver pointed to the spot.

Ronaldo showed great composure to fire the ball past substitute Wojciech Szczesny - who had replaced Gianluigi Buffon after he was sent off for protesting the decision - to secure a 4-3 aggregate victory.

The protests, which lasted several minutes, made little sense to Ronaldo who waited patiently for his chance to wrap up the tie.

"I don't understand why they are protesting," he said. "Lucas was tackled from behind and if they don't give him the penalty, it's a goal. The pulse increased, but I calmed down, and I knew I'd be decisive."

Ronaldo knew his side would have to fight until the final whistle against a team as good as Juventus.

Despite the 3-1 defeat on the night, the Portugal forward is grateful to be through to the last four of the competition they won in Cardiff last year.

"We have suffered, but it helps us to learn," he added. "In football, nothing is given away, you have to fight until the end. Madrid could've scored more goals but Juve and Buffon were good."

Juventus' chairman Andrea Agnelli called for VAR to be introduced to the Champions League after his side's exit from the tournament.

Ronaldo slotted home the decisive penalty (Getty Images)

Agnelli felt the decision to award the penalty was wrong and claimed Oliver should not have sent Gianluigi Buffon off in what is expected to be his final Champions League game.

"VAR has to be introduced," Agnelli said. "We will bring it forward and will look to make it happen. In this situation, it meant the possibility to move forward in the Champions League when we deserved extra time.

"We need to change the referee designator every two or three years. Buffon sent off? The referee didn't know how to handle the situation."

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