The Belgian winger has scored six times and made six assists in 14 games for City, including a last-minute victor against Sevilla in the team’s last Champions League game, which put them top of the group.
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For City to top the group and so have the best chance of a favourable last-16 draw they must defeat Borussia Mönchengladbach and hope Sevilla beat Juventus in the closing round.
City were holding their own in an open game, however, and there were chances at both ends just before the break. City have already qualified for the next round of the Champions League, but have recently been shaken to their core by a huge loss at home to Liverpool and a week prior a draw with Aston Villa.
Heading into this year’s competition, City will have been desperate to avoid finishing second in the pool and facing one of the top seeds in the second round. “Sevilla have to win that game to try to qualify for the Europa League”, said Pellegrini.
The Citizens travel to the Juventus Stadium for an encounter against the Italians, knowing that a win would help them to ensure top spot in Group D. We have to wait on Juve playing Seville away from home.
The Chilean said: “Of course we must be able to play without Sergio”.
Further problems emerged for City later in the game which could have a huge impact further down the line as Joe Hart was forced off with an injury, Pellegrini being forced to bring on Willy Caballero for the final ten minutes after Hart had pulled off some fantastic saves to keep his side in the game.
Manuel Pellegrini’s men have been unable to make an impact in Europe in recent years, but the Ivory Coast worldwide is confident they can go all the way in the Champions League this time around, while he has also set his sights on Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup glory.
After their very bad performances against Liverpool and Aston Villa in Premier League, Manuel Pellegrini wants to remedy the City’s reputation, but there is a big problem.
Ronaldo opened the scoring with an 18th-minute header off a flick from Gareth Bale, before assisting first Luka Modric and then Dani Carvajal for goals in the space of three second-half minutes.
“They took the game to Juventus, they suffered in parts in the first half, but they got to grips with that eventually and Manchester City can count themselves a little bit unfortunate to lose the game”.
City started brightly and had early chances with Fernandinho firing a low strike just wide from the edge of the area on five minutes.
Yaya Toure praised Hart but rued the missed chances.
But in open play, Juve were a class apart and Alvaro Morata, who replaced Mandzukic on 54 minutes, spurned several chances to double the hosts’ lead.
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“We have to bounce back in the next game that’s coming”.
