Juventus leapfrog Manchester City for top of Champions League group
Manchester City's dire week continued as they missed a chance to lock up their Champions League group tonight, falling 1-0 to Juventus in Turin.
Mario Mandzukic got the vital goal and the Italians hung on from there to both qualify for the knockout round and move into pole position to win the group outright on the final day. City now must beat Mönchengladbach at home and hope Sevilla -- who have looked dreadful -- can pull off an unlikely upset of Juventus on December 8 if the English giants are to avoid playing a group winner in the knockout stages. Don't bet on it.
The result will be a bitter disappointment for Manuel Pellegrini: his team was embarrassed 4-1 on the weekend by Liverpool and came into the match desperate to shake off their reputation for Continental naiveté. But with a callow back line missing the injured Vincent Kompany -- and with Yaya Toure looking curiously feeble on the night -- this proved to be too big an ask against an Italian side with the nous to see these type of gritty, canny games out.
''There were chances for both sides,'' Juve boss Massimiliano Allegri said. ''We could have scored more and they could have equalized. That's how matches go. I think it was a good Champions League match tonight.
City actually started out looking the better of the sides. Limited in their attack --- they did not get a shot off on target until the end of the half -- this was nonetheless was a more mature performance, with City showing patience and control. Fernandinho had two early chances, the better of which resulted in a near miss to the keeper's left in the fourth minute.
But City arguably should have been ahead in the 16th when a fine cross from Kevin De Bruyne fell at the penalty spot, and with both Toure and Fernandinho in range, the ball was instead catapulted wildly over Gigi Buffon's goal.
That miss immediately proved costly. Paul Pogba stormed through the heart of the City midfield, and with the drop of his shoulder and a shrug of his hips, sent an inch-perfect pass out to Alex Sandro that was swiftly returned across the box for the lurking Mandzukic to turn home. Nicolas Otamendi bitterly protested in the aftermath, and replays showed he had a valid claim for a foul in the buildup -- but the truth was that he did not show enough strength on the play either -- and it was a lovely, professional goal.
''I think it was a very good game for both teams,'' City manager Manuel Pellegrini said. ''Both played well. I think we were unlucky to lose. They scored a goal which I think was a foul before Mandzukic finished but the referee didn't blow the whistle. But we had chances and didn't score.''
Juventus nearly doubled their lead six minutes later when Pogba left Bacary Sagna for dead, and fizzed in a cross from the endline that spun in front of an unguarded net. Time seemed to stop for a moment before Gael Clichy reacted to hack the ball away with Claudio Marchisio bearing down on the net. And Joe Hart was forced to make a fine one-handed save just moment after that, as Clichy was exposed by Stephan Lichtsteiner to set up a smart volley at the near post from Mandzukic.
City had only one real sniff at Buffon's net in the first half, and that was badly spurned. Sergio Aguero, who looked well short of full fitness, was gifted the ball by Marchisio on a blind backpass, setting up a chance with only Buffon to beat. Instead of getting a shot off, the canny keeper marshaled Aguero, and the ball, out of bounds.
The second half was a far more open affair, with City finally getting a shot on target when De Bruyne's corner was put across Buffon's net in the 50th by a header from Fernando. With the keeper grasping and the ball rolling on the line to the post, Toure attempted to put the ball in with his studs -- only for Buffon to smother it.
Immediately at the other end, sub Alvaro Morata nearly scored with his first touch of the match, a delightful half-volley that he clipped over Hart, only to see the ball come back off the post and past the onrushing Paulo Dybala.
When Aguero was finally hauled off, it felt like an admission on City's part, and it proved to be: Raheem Sterling, his replacement, missed a gilt-edged chance badly in the 80th minute. Moments after Morata nearly iced the game with a lovely, mazy run that drifted inside to force Hart into a great save, Sterling was set free to the keeper's right by De Bruyne. But instead of putting his shot in the back of the net, he skimmed it wildly wide, drawing groans from the fans and the touchline alike.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
