WATCH: Cristiano Ronaldo Hugs Gianluigi Buffon After Late UCL PK, Red Card

Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo has spoken out after the dramatic scenes of Wednesday night's pulsating Champions League quarterfinal second leg with Juventus - saying he doesn't understand the Italians' penalty protestations.

The Old Lady looked on course to take the tie to extra time after stunning the hosts with three goals on the night to wipe out Real's hard work from the first leg, but a controversial penalty award by referee Michael Oliver in the dying seconds allowed Ronaldo to fire his side into the semifinals.

The English official adjudged defender Medhi Benatia to have fouled Lucas Vazquez after Ronaldo's knocked down header, and goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon was sent off for his furious reaction.

On second viewing, it looked as though Oliver made the correct call and in the eyes of Ronaldo, there was no doubt about it.

He told reporters, as quoted by Marca: "I don't understand why they are protesting. Lucas was tackled from behind and if they don't give him the penalty, it's a goal."

With his penalty, the 33-year-old has now scored an incredible 15 goals in his last 10 quarterfinal appearances, and kept up his record of scoring in every single game of the competition this season (15 in 10 again). Remarkably, he now has 120 goals in 150 games in total.

Regardless of how the game ended and where you stand because of it: you can appreciate this amazing sign of respect of two legends of the beautiful game: Cristiano Ronaldo & Gianluigi Buffon. pic.twitter.com/VoPJgdqNIq
— Roberto Rojas (@RobertoRojas97) April 11, 2018

On his friend Buffon, Ronaldo added (via A Bola): "I have a lot of respect for Buffon, the words he has said about me, I about him. He is a great lord and I hope he does not leave the Champions League already, he is one of the best goalkeepers ever."

Such is the respect the Portuguese has for Buffon, the goal machine was filmed interrupting the stopper during an interview after the game to console him with a hug. Sadly, this may well have been the 40-year-old's final European appearance, and mirrors Zinedine Zidane's infamous 2006 World Cup final dismissal for France.