Manchester City visit defending Serie A champions Juventus on Wednesday, knowing that a win would guarantee them top spot in Group D with one match left to play. Juventus have already beaten City 2-1 this season and will be targeting another win that would book their place into the last sixteen. Man City have beaten Juventus just once in their last five direct meetings, but that win was all the way back in 1976. The two sides have also met in the 2010-2011 edition of the Europa League and both matches ended 1-1.
Juventus are still unbeaten in this season's Champions League, with wins over Sevilla and Manchester City and two draws against Borussia Monchengladbach. Their Serie A form has been surprisingly poor this season, with just one win out of their last six games. They have remained hard to beat though, they have lost just one of their last seven league matches. Last weekend they defeated AC Milan 1-0 thanks to a goal from Paulo Dybala. Hernanes picked up an injury in that match though and will be out for three weeks. Sami Khedira is unavailable through injury as well, along with Roberto Pereyra.
Manchester City suffered a damaging defeat last weekend, 4-1 against Liverpool, and manager Manuel Pellegrini said he could not understand how his players produced such a terrible performance. The good news for the Citizens is that Sergio Aguero returned to the starting eleven and even managed to score a superb goal. City are already sure of making the last 16 after the 3-1 win at Sevilla last time out, but now they will have to hold on to the top spot in the group standings. Wilfried Bony has not yet recovered from a hamstring injury, while David Silva is closer to his return.
Probable line-ups:
Juventus: Buffon - Lichtsteiner, Barzagli, Chiellini, Sandro - Sturaro, Marchisio, Pogba, Cuadrado - Morata, Dybala
Man City: Hart - Zabaleta, Demichelis, Otamendi, Kolarov - Toure, Fernando - Navas, De Bruyne, Sterling - Aguero
My prediction: 1-1 draw.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Juventus win - 2.25 Draw - 3.40 Man City win - 3.50
sharpe
8 years ago
Another win for Juventus against City in this edition of the CL and they take the lead in this group although the game wasn't so important when we know how big point lead both teams had over the other two teams in the group. Juventus will be contender once again in the tournament although there are at least 3 other biggest...
Another win for Juventus against City in this edition of the CL and they take the lead in this group although the game wasn't so important when we know how big point lead both teams had over the other two teams in the group. Juventus will be contender once again in the tournament although there are at least 3 other biggest favourites than them and for CIty this a success all ready that they go trough the group stage, they could only be better from now on.
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GREGJO
8 years ago
I absolutely agree with Johnny, draw is a very probable result. Manchester City aren't in red hot form, actually they were terrible at the weekend when they were well beaten by Liverpool (1-4). I'm sure they want to show that was just a one off game and will fight for the 1st place today. In Manchester they lost the match...
I absolutely agree with Johnny, draw is a very probable result. Manchester City aren't in red hot form, actually they were terrible at the weekend when they were well beaten by Liverpool (1-4). I'm sure they want to show that was just a one off game and will fight for the 1st place today. In Manchester they lost the match against Juventus, although they dominated the match and led by 1-0. Juventus are not the same team like last season as a lot of important players left the club (e. g. Tevez, Pirlo, Vidal) but they have a good defense and at home they can be dangerous for every team. My correct score prediction is: 1-1 or 0-0.
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h34dhunt3r
8 years ago
Derby of 5th round of Champions League groupstage. Group D is pretty much decided, only way for Juventus to not qualify is to lose tonight and in two weeks versus Sevilla, which is not likely. Since it's played in Italy, we shouldnt expect goals everywhere, but not goalless aswell. City had horrible match this weekend when...
Derby of 5th round of Champions League groupstage. Group D is pretty much decided, only way for Juventus to not qualify is to lose tonight and in two weeks versus Sevilla, which is not likely. Since it's played in Italy, we shouldnt expect goals everywhere, but not goalless aswell. City had horrible match this weekend when they lost vs Liverpool on homefield, so their players might lost confidence now. I prefer Juve for tonight. My predicitons: - Result: 2:1 for Juventus; - Man of the match: Alvaro Morata
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BobiRobson4 8 years ago
Group D is crystal clear now , only question who will be first . I think Juventus will take win here but them match will great and hard for both . There will not be a lot of goals i think and i think the both team will fight for win . Both team in next two match after this have easy victory so this is most important match...
Group D is crystal clear now , only question who will be first . I think Juventus will take win here but them match will great and hard for both . There will not be a lot of goals i think and i think the both team will fight for win . Both team in next two match after this have easy victory so this is most important match for them now . All in all this will be great match and i cant wait to watch it .
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