Late Ronaldo penalty saves Real Madrid

MADRID — Just when it looked like Juventus would pull off another stunning Champions League comeback, Cristiano Ronaldo stepped up once again.

Ronaldo converted a penalty kick deep into injury time to send Real Madrid through to the semifinals for the eighth straight season despite a 3-1 home loss to Juventus on Wednesday. The goal was enough to give the twotime defending champion a 4-3 aggregate win and avoid nerve-racking extra time after the Italian side had erased a seemingly insurmountable deficit from the first leg.

“It was a match in which we suffered,” Ronaldo said. “It shows that nothing is a given in football, you have to fight until the end. We didn’t play well, we have to admit. But in the end we deserved to advance.”

A day after seeing Spanish rival Barcelona blow a three-goal advantage against Roma in Italy, Madrid nearly did the same. But Juventus’ heroics came up just short after substitute Lucas Vazquez appeared to be pushed from behind inside the area in the third and final minute of stoppage time.

Veteran Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, in what was likely his last Champions League game, was then sent off for furiously complaining after the penalty decision. The Madrid crowd at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium gave Buffon a standing ovation as he left the field.

“Life goes on,” Buffon said. “I’m happy and proud of how we played. It’s a shame it ends like this. I was very close to the play. If you call a penalty like that in the 93rd minute, you are not a man, you are an animal. You have a trash can inside you, not a heart.”

In the night’s other quarterfinal, Bayern Munich advanced with a 0-0 home draw against Sevilla as the newly crowned Bundesliga champions defended a 2-1 advantage from the first leg.

Madrid won the first leg 3-0 in Turin last week, when Ronaldo scored with a spectacular bicycle kick for his second goal of the match.