Mandzukic fires Juventus into last 16 with win over Man City

“He has a problem with his hamstring, I don’t know if it’s for the hamstring, or because he’s been carrying a back problem for the last week”, added the Chilean.

But yesterday, his decisions to field a three-man defence, to put prefer Alex Sandro to Patrice Evra on the left of midfield and to start with Mario Mandzukic and Paulo Dybala as the two-man strikeforce all paid off handsomely.

Defeat, City’s second in five days, means they need Juventus to lose their final game at Sevilla, and to win theirs, against Borussia Monchengladbach, to finish top. He has a problem with his hamstring.

“We have a fantastic squad and I think we were unlucky to be honest”. Next time I am needed to play 15 or 20 minutes I will be ready, whenever that might be, but of course we hope that Joe recovers.

“If you want to be involved in the Premier League title [race] you can not drop more points at home”.

But in open play, Juve were a class apart and Alvaro Morata, who replaced Mandzukic on 54 minutes, spurned several chances to double the hosts’ lead.

Heading into this year’s competition, City will have been desperate to avoid finishing second in the pool and facing one of the top seeds in the second round.

“We had one or two chances to make it 2-2 and that would have been it, but they are a hell of a side”. They are a big team and we must be ready for every game and every team. If we lose and they win they will go ahead.

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.

“We have to be focused on the Italian championship now but then get ready for the game against Sevilla”. It is a nice opportunity for me to play a couple of games consecutively. We were a little nervous until the third goal, but I’m happy with the performance and the result. “We have so many injuries it is hard”.

City had already secured its progress before the game, but the defeat leaves the side two points behind Juventus with one match remaining and therefore staring at the prospect of finishing second in the group and facing a tougher last-16 draw.

Manuel Pellegrini’s side were without six first-team players for the trip to Italy, with Wilfried Bony, Pablo Zabaleta, Eliaquim Mangala, Vincent Kompany, Samir Nasri and David Silva sidelined through injury.