The Daily Star Ireland
Juventus has been struggling in this Champions League season, failing to secure a win in their last three matches. They have drawn twice, 1-1 against Lille and 0-0 against Aston Villa in London, and suffered a home defeat to Stuttgart 1-0. As a result, Juventus is currently 19th in the league phase with 8 points.
Despite this setback, their loss to Stuttgart is their only defeat since the start of the current TCC season. Recently, they faced Bologna in Serie A, aiming to avoid another defeat and improve their form after drawing with AC Milan (0-0) and Lecce (1-1).
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City is also experiencing a tough period, despite winning the English championship six times since his arrival and securing the Champions League title two years ago. Following Rodri’s Ballon d’Or win, City has not won any matches across all competitions, recording six losses and one draw.
Although their Premier League campaign seems over, City aims to regain form in the Champions League. However, they recently lost to Sporting 4-1, with Viktor Gyökeres scoring a hat-trick, and drew 3-3 with Feyenoord after leading 3-0.
Juventus is dealing with numerous injuries, including key players like Bremer, Vlahovic (6 goals in Serie A, 3 in the Champions League), Milik, Douglas Luiz, Cabal, McKennie, Adzic, and newcomer Nico Gonzalez.
Thiago Motta had only 17 players available for the Aston Villa match, with six substitutes. Fortunately, he can rely on players like Kalulu, Locatelli, Thuram, Portuguese international Conceicao, Koopmeiners, Yildiz, and Weah (4 goals in Serie A). Fagioli, a young midfielder sought after by Marseille, will also be available.
On the Manchester City side, the absence of Rodri (Ballon d’Or winner) due to a cruciate ligament injury (ending his season) is significant. His potential replacements, Stones and Kovacic, along with Bobb, are also injured.
Belgian international winger Doku has returned from injury and will travel to Piedmont, along with Erling Haaland (5 Champions League goals), Foden, Bernardo Silva, and Kevin De Bruyne. City’s main issue is the lack of goal scorers beyond Haaland, who has 12 Premier League goals. The next highest scorers, Gvardiol and Kovacic, have only three goals each.
Prediction
When Manchester City plays away in the Champions League, matches typically have fewer than 3.5 goals, a trend observed in their last 17 away games. Similarly, 16 of Juventus’s last 19 home games in the Champions League have had under 3.5 goals. Thus, a low-scoring match is expected.
Prediction: Juventus 1 : 1 Manchester City.
