Manchester City slumped to their second defeat in the Champions League this season, once again falling at the hands of Italian giants Juventus.
Both teams had numerous chances throughout the game, but it was the Serie A champions who triumphed thanks to a first-half goal from Mario Mandzukic. Manuel Pellegrini will be utterly disappointed with his defenders, who continue to struggle in the absence of skipper Vincent Kompany. The Chilean made a number of changes to the side that were hammered by Liverpool on the weekend, but still failed to see any sort of improvement defensively. Both goalkeepers were in fine form and produced some outstanding saves, although Joe Hart could not finish the 90 minutes after he sustained an injury.
City and Juventus have sealed qualification into the knockout stage of the competition and will now battle it out to see who wins the group.
Kompany’s presence
The Belgian is undoubtedly City’s best centre-back by quite a distance, but it is still abnormal to see a City defence so vulnerable in the absence of one player. Kompany has started in only two Champions League games this season and has also missed a chunk of league fixtures due to injury. In the 10 games that he has started in all competitions, City have kept seven clean sheets and conceded just four goals. Compare that to when Kompany is not playing and the difference is clearly evident.
New signing Nicolas Otamendi has not been too bad but still has a lot to improve on, while Eliaquim Mangala and Martin Demichelis have been well below-par this season. 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.
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