Juventus vs Manchester City – Match preview and team news

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·11 de diciembre de 2024

Juventus vs Manchester City – Match preview and team news

Juventus entertain Manchester City in the Champions League tonight as Europe’s elite competition reaches the business end of the league phase.

City will be aiming to make amends for their collapse at home to Feyenoord last time out where they let a three-goal lead slip to draw 3-3.

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Pep Guardiola has been handed a huge boost for his midfield options, with Phil Foden and Mateo Kovacic featuring in training this week. However, John Stones, Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake weren’t fit enough to make Manchester City’s 22-man travelling squad.

Juventus face English opposition for consecutive European games after they played out a goalless draw with Aston Villa. Thiago Motta will be without Nicolas Gonzalez and Arkadiusz Milik tonight, who join Gleison Bremer and Juan Cabal on the sidelines.

Juventus vs Manchester City – Match preview and team news

Form

Juventus: WDDDD

Juventus will make it 10 unbeaten if they avoid defeat to Manchester City this evening. Remarkably, the 36-time Scudetto winners remain undefeated in Serie A this season after 15 games. However, their recent form has followed a pattern as they have frequently failed to convert draws into victories.

Thiago Motta’s side have drawn nine times in the league this term, which includes drawing their last four games in all competitions.

Sights now set on City ⏭️
– lunes, 9 de diciembre de 2024

At the weekend, they managed to salvage a point at home to Bologna, courtesy of a 92nd-minute equaliser from Samuel Mbangala. In Europe, they have had mixed displays. A superb victory over RB Leipzig was overshadowed by a disappointing home defeat to Stuttgart.

They were slightly fortunate to return to Italy with a point against Aston Villa as Morgan Rogers’ stoppage time goal was controversially disallowed.

Manchester City: LDLWD

City are yet to rediscover the form we have become accustomed to, with only one victory in their last nine matches.

After they comprehensively overcame Nottingham Forest last midweek, their recent troubles were apparent again at the weekend.

PEP 💬 Juve is Juve. In Italy, it is the best team historically. They are used to playing with a lot of pressure, and the quality is there. Thiago, you see what he is trying to do. He did an incredible job in Bologna. They have incredible variations.
– martes, 10 de diciembre de 2024

Pep Guardiola’s team had to come from behind twice to draw with a struggling Crystal Palace – in a game where Rico Lewis scored before getting sent off.

They are level on points with Juventus in the Champions League standings and are four points off the automatic qualification spots.

Last Meeting: Juventus 1-0 Manchester City, Champions League, 25th November 2015

A Mario Mandzukic strike was decisive the last time the two sides came to blows.

Just after the quarter of an hour mark, Alex Sandro whipped a cross into Mandzukic. The Croatian evaded the attention of Nicolas Otamendi before delicately stroking the ball past Joe Hart.

Proceedings were played at a pedestrian pace with the belligerent backline of Juventus frustrating Manuel Pellegrini’s star-studded attack.

Despite defeat in Turin, Manchester City ended up reaching the semi-finals of the competition, where they were narrowly knocked out by Real Madrid.

The Old Lady’s win sealed a double over City in the group stage before they exited in the Round of 16 at the hands of Bayern Munich.

Predicted Lineups

Juventus: Di Gregorio; Savona, Gatti, Kalulu, Danilo; Locatelli, Thuram-Ulien; Conceicao, Koopmeiners, Yildiz; Vlahovic.

Manchester City: Ortega; Walker, Dias, Gvardiol, Lewis; Gundogan; Doku, De Bruyne, Silva, Nunes; Haaland.

Who is the referee?

French referee Clément Turpin will be the match official. He will be assisted by Nicolas Danos and Erwan Finjean while Mathieu Vernice will be the fourth official. The VAR will be Willy Delajod and he will be assisted by Benoît Millot.