Both teams had numerous chances throughout the game, but it was the Serie A champions who triumphed thanks to a first-half goal from Mario Mandzukic.
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City also have cause for concern in terms of injuries as goalkeeper Joe Hart had to come off through injury late in the second half at the Juventus Stadium. “Both played well. I think we were unlucky to lose”.
“I think the biggest thing we did was we stopped playing two up front away from home”, Scholes told ESPN FC, speaking from the BT green room, where he analysed this week’s Champions League.
“The group is not finished”, he said. Mandzukic finished well, but we had chances to at least draw – but missed them.
“It is a very hard game that Juventus must play away, as Sevilla need to win that game if they want to continue in the Europa League”, PA quotes Navas as saying.
With the win, Juventus have climbed up to the top in Group D of the league table ahead of City who are at the second place in standings.
The Italian side now have a two-point cushion over the English side with 11 points from five matches in Group D and will progress as section winners if they avoid defeat against Seville in the last round.
“Joe has a muscle injury”, said Pellegrini.
“We have already seen a strong Barcelona”.
“We hope we will not lose him”. Pellegrini is coming under increasing pressure to get his team back on track and he might have to dip into the transfer market once again when the January window opens.
This season has proved more hard as he has had to rebuild the team following the departures of playmaker Andrea Pirlo, box-to-box midfielder Arturo Vidal and marksman Carlos Tevez. “That’s why I was not so unhappy with the way we played because we didn’t have many chances to make substitutions and had to take Sergio Agüero out after 65 minutes”.
Silva has been sidelined for almost seven weeks with the ankle injury he suffered on worldwide duty with Spain at the start of October, and Pellegrini is still unsure when his playmaker will return to full fitness. “David improved a little bit more the last two days and he’s working with the physio in Manchester”.
The Chilean said: “The more points you win between now and the end of December, the more chance you have to win the league”.
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Captain and defensive leader Vincent Kompany has been badly missed and faces another fortnight out with a calf problem.
