City are already through to the last 16 but passed up the opportunity to seal top spot in Group D and a seeded place in the draw – a benefit now set to be enjoyed by the Italian champions thanks to Mandzukic’s 18th-minute strike.
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City and Juventus have sealed qualification into the knockout stage of the competition and will now battle it out to see who wins the group.
The Premier League’s four representatives all face crucial matches in the final round of Champions League group games next month.
“We will see tomorrow”.
“It’s always important to relate what we are doing because maybe when you qualify for the next stage of the Champions League that was the week that we had a descent in our performance”. We have two spare games to try to win the group.
“Both played well. I think we were unlucky to lose”.
And, worryingly, goalkeeper Joe Hart sustained a hamstring injury that forced the England worldwide to be replaced by Willy Caballero.
Sergio Aguero was gifted a chance just before the break when he pounced on a shocking back-pass by Claudio Marchisio but Gianluigi Buffon came off his line to narrow the angle and denied the City striker.
“In the first half and second half we had a clear-cut chance to draw”.
AFP PHOTO / MARCO BERTORELLOMARCO BERTORELLO/AFP/Getty Images Manchester City’s players warm-up before the UEFA Champions League football match Juventus vs Manchester City on November 25, 2015 at the Juventus Stadium in Turin. “We’re proud of that statistic so the lads deserve all the credit they get”.
“We want to give an aggressive display from the beginning to bring home the result”.
Juve started the second half brightly but City would go on to scare the hosts on several occasions.
A Kevin De Bruyne corner was redirected on goal by Fernandinho, but a slight touch from Juventus’ veteran goalkeeper was enough to knock it off the post.
Juve were let off again after Giorgio Chiellini got tangled up with Yaya Toure in the area and Fernandinho pounced, only to flash over from 10 yards out. “We’ll need to play well to win”.
There was no escape after 18 minutes as Alex Sandro, also impressive on the right, curled in a hanging cross and Mandzukic shook off the attention of Nicolas Otamendi to to volley past Hart.
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If he [Pellegrini] loses sleep tonight it’s not because they think they’ll probably finish second in the group now I think it’s more that his team had three or four guilt-edged chances.
