Juventus vs Manchester City, Champions League

Manchester City’s hopes of topping their Champions League group suffered a blow after an entertaining 1-0 defeat to Juventus in Turin.

Jesus Navas will hope for a favour from former club Sevilla to help Manchester City through to the Champions League last 16 as group winners.

Unfortunately for City they would ultimately fail to make the breakthrough on the night, handing prime advantage back to the Bianconeri in the pursuit of top spot in the group.

“It’s a hard moment for the team”.

“I am not happy about the score but I think we made a good game in the condition that we are in at this moment”.

Speaking to the media after the game, Pellegrini said, “Both teams played well and we were unlucky to lose this game”.

“It should be an entertaining game but we’ll need to be at our best to get something”.

City’s goalkeeper Joe Hart had to be substituted with a hamstring problem during the match but the seriousness of the injury will not be known until later on today.

The ESPN FC panel share their insight on Manchester City’s clash against Juventus in the UEFA Champions League.

“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 Chilean said: “Of course we must be able to play without Sergio”.

As it is, the daunting presence of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid looms large on the horizon, just as it has done the past two seasons when a second-placed finish left them at the mercy of the draw.

Left-back Alex Sandro put in the cross that led to the only goal of the game, before becoming the subject of a £28.1m bid from the Citizens.

The Sky Blues have failed to win their last three games since beating Sevilla 3-1 away to book their place in the last 16.

While Aguero is now back in action, City remain without a number of other senior players in captain Vincent Kompany, playmaker David Silva, striker Wilfried Bony and defenders Pablo Zabaleta and Eliaquim Mangala.

“We’ll see, maybe he has a problem with his hamstring”, Pellegrini said.

“It was a good game from both sides”. There are going to be players with more quality, but you have to keep up with the pace and go attack.

Hart suggested to reporters after the game that he would be fit for Saturday’s Premier League match against Southampton at the Etihad Stadium, saying “it’s nothing – a little bit tight”.