CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Manchester City beaten by Juventus

Juventus defender Andrea Barzagli was full of praise of his side’s 1-0 win over Manchester City in the Champions League on Wednesday evening, claiming it will serve as a morale booster.

Toure, who captained City as Vincent Kompany headed a lengthy injury list for Manuel Pellegrini’s side, looked on as his midfield team-mate Fernandinho spurned a golden opportunity to open the scoring shortly before Juventus striker Mario Mandzukic did just that in the 18th minute.

It means City must win their final game and hope Sevilla can do them a favour otherwise they face the possibility of going up against the likes of Barcelona, Bayern Munich or Real Madrid in the next round. “It was important today because we were up against a very good side and we needed the points because we still believed in our chances of finishing first”, Mandžukić said.

“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. Pellegrini will no doubt be anxious to get his skipper back to fitness, but the Belgian is likely to miss at least a couple more weeks.

“At the moment it is impossible to know what he has so we will see tomorrow”.

Morata proved to be a handful for the City defence and he almost extended Juventus’ lead in the 79th minute but Hart was on hand to deny the Spaniard a goal. We tried to dominate the game.

Following on from a disappointing 0-0 draw at Aston Villa, defeat against Liverpool saw them fail to score more than once for the first time in six games – a shock considering they had hit 20 in the previous five.

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.

“It’s a hard moment for the team”. Sevilla must win that game if they want to continue in the Europa League.

Mandzukic receives a knockdown from Lichtsteiner, and his volley is well struck and well saved by Joe Hart at the near 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.

Sergio Aguero had Man City’s best chance of the first half, just before halftime, when Marchisio played an unthinkable back pass toward Gianluigi Buffon.