Juventus a gauge of City’s Euro potential: Pellegrini

Manuel Pellegrini fears for Joe Hart after the keeper hobbled off injured.

With top spot still up for grabs in Group D, Juve will leapfrog their rivals into first place with a two-point lead if they can secure a victory. He has a problem in his hamstring.

But coach Massimiliano Allegri’s tactical options are limited, with Sami Khedira joining several other midfielders on the treatment table while France left-back Patrice Evra is set for a fitness test after suffering a left ankle problem.

It was a performance far removed from the limp one which saw them lose to Juventus on match day one, as a controversial Vincent Kompany goal was overturned by Mario Mandzukic and Alvaro Morata. “But for if for some reason he can not play I have trust in Willy (Caballero)”.

The decisions to leave defender Nicolas Otamendi and midfield lynchpin Fernandinho on the bench after travelling back from World Cup qualifying action in South America backfired on Pellegrini, as Liverpool overran his team in central areas with City centre-backs Martin Demichelis and Eliaquim Mangala turning in shambolic displays. “It doesn’t mean that if we finish top of the group, we’re going to have an easy draw”.

“We have to see what Juventus will do against Sevilla”.

“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 gilt-edged chances”, Quinn told Soccer Special.

Pellegrini said beating Juventus on their own turf would also be a gauge of his side’s Champions League-winning potential, but it quickly became clear their current injury woes would play to Juve’s advantage. Since then, we have become a little bit more ruthless, we have dug in when we needed to and not necessarily played pretty football, but we took chances at really important times. We didn’t take our chances but we tried to establish a balance throughout.

“Kevin is a player that fortunately for us played one year here”, Pellegrini said, referring to the Belgian’s previous spell at Chelsea.

Pellegrini argued that the key to City’s progress in Europe was that they should play as they do in the Premier League, last Saturday notwithstanding. But we’ve got to have the mentality that we want to win the competition – that’s the only mentality we can have.

“This year we must improve at least one stage more”, Pellegrini said.

He added: “It’s important to try to avoid them (Barcelona)”.

The goalkeeper does not see the Italian champions as the favourites to win the competition, though, singling out holders Barcelona and Bundesliga powerhouse Bayern Munich as the teams to beat. We definitely need to go to the next level and make it through to the quarter-finals or semis.