LIVERPOOL loanee Marko Grujic was hailed for his ‘s***house’ tactics as Porto dumped Juventus out of the Champions League.
Porto were already on the brink of going through when the Serbian midfielder, 24, went down theatrically under little pressure from Adrien Rabiot in the corner.
Marko Grujic took a sneaky glance at the officials after buying a crucial late free-kick for PortoCredit: BT Sport
The referee gave the free-kick in the 119th minute, with the Portuguese side knowing they would advance on away goals if it remained 3-2 to Juve on the night.
And after winning the cheap free-kick, Grujic made sure he wasted a few more precious seconds by staying down pretending to be hurt.
He was then spotted taking a cheeky peek at the officials as he went full Sergio Busquets and David Luiz mode.
Both pantomime villains were caught on camera having a sneaky look when faking injuries.
BT Sport commentator Robbie Savage could not help but laugh while their Twitter account shared the clip and wrote: “Marko Grujic, that is shameless,” with a laughing emoji.
Unsurprisingly there was plenty of reaction to Grujic – who has made just 16 Liverpool appearances despite signing in 2016 – with some lauding his gamesmanship and others criticising the ex-Cardiff flop.
One wrote: “That is worth buying his shirt tomorrow.”
Another said: “Proper s***housery from Grujic.”
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But a third added: “Ban him!”
And a fourth user commented: “Not even something to laugh about it’s disgraceful, the referee had an awful performance and falling for stunts like this.”
And Grujic’s tactics helped ensure he and his Porto team-mates enjoyed the last laugh in Turin.
The tie ended 4-4 on aggregate but Sergio Olivera’s 30-yard free-kick proved to be the crucial goal five minutes from the end of extra time – even though Rabiot headed in Juventus’ winner on the night.
Cristiano Ronaldo was slammed for his part in the free-kick as he jumped and turned his back on the ball, which was then struck underneath him and into the bottom corner.
Ex-Old Lady boss Fabio Capello said: “That was an unforgivable error.
“In my day, you chose the players who went into the wall and they couldn’t be someone afraid of the ball.
“They were scared of the ball and jumped away from it, turning their backs. That’s unforgivable.”
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The Serbian went down theatrically after slight contact from Adrien RabiotCredit: BT Sport
Grujic and his Porto team-mates dumped Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus out of the Champions LeagueCredit: Reuters
Wenger comments on the VAR decision that denied Ronaldo a penalty against Porto
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
