Andrea Pirlo fuming after Cristiano Ronaldo denied late penalty in Juventus loss to Porto

Juventus manager Andrea Pirlo has claimed the referee from Wednesday's 2-1 loss to Porto didn't have the 'guts' to review a decision not to award Cristiano Ronaldo a penalty late in the game.

Ronaldo went to ground with just 30 seconds remaining in stoppage time under a challenge from Zaidu Sanusi, but the referee waved away his protest and eventually blew the final whistle without stopping to reviewing the challenge with VAR.

The Juventus players swarmed the referee after the game to ask why the decision was not reviewed, and Pirlo told the media after the game that the official claimed he could not review the decision because the final whistle had been blown.

"Clear penalty on Cristiano," he said (via Tuttosport). "I asked the referee, he said that the game was over and there was no need to go and see the replay. I think even after the game, you should have guts to go and see it."

This is not the first time this season that we have seen drama like this. Back in a meeting with Brighton in September, Manchester United were awarded a penalty after the full-time whistle after VAR spotted a handball which needed reviewing.

It all adds to the frustrations towards VAR, and Pirlo was very vocal in his disappointment over a decision which could prove costly for his side, but the boss also confessed to Sky Sports that his side should not have put themselves in that kind of position anyway.

"I speak for myself and for tonight's match, we had prepared it well and differently from how it went," he said. "It wasn't the attitude we wanted, but when you score goals later on, it gets tougher.

"We knew that they end games well and we put it on a silver platter. We had prepared the game to attack from deep with both forwards, but when you touch the ball too many times then you lose the momentum.

"The movement of the ball was very slow and we weren't good at understanding what situations were being created. This was a bit of the problem. And when you play against 11 players who line up behind the ball line, everything becomes more difficult. This was the game. It's too bad, because we could have done better."

Juventus are now staring a second elimination from the Champions League last 16 in consecutive seasons and must overturn a 2-1 deficit when the two sides meet in Turin on March 9 to avoid another humiliation.

For more from ​Tom Gott, follow him on ​Twitter!