Evening Standard
·11 December 2024
Evening Standard
·11 December 2024
City lose again in nightmare preparation for Manchester derby
Dusan Vlahovic and Weston McKennie scored to lead Juventus to a 2-0 Champions League win over Manchester City on Wednesday, a major blow to the English champions' hopes of clinching a top-eight spot in the group stage of Europe's elite competition.
City, who lifted the 2023 Champions League trophy, continued a poor run of form which has brought only one victory in their last 10 games across all competitions.
"You can see that sometimes one action we miss the ball or lose a duel and you can see that we drop immediately," City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan told Amazon Prime.
"It has such a big effect on us right now. At the crucial moment right now we are doing the wrong things."
Vlahovic scored by the narrowest of margins in the 53rd minute when Kenan Yildiz swung the ball in and the Serb's header from close range sneaked past City keeper Ederson and just across the line, according to the goalline technology.
City picked up the tempo in a desperate attempt to equalise and sent numbers forward, but Juve capitalised to double their lead against the run of play when McKennie hooked Timothy Weah's cross in with a sumptuous volley in the 75th minute.
Pep Guardiola's team squandered several chances, one of the best being Erling Haaland's narrow miss late in first half. Kevin De Bruyne sent a beautiful through ball to the Norwegian who got in behind the defence before trying to chip goalkeeper Michele di Gregorio who threw up his arm to block the shot.
Gundogan unleashed a blistering strike from long range that Di Gregorio stretched to just push wide.
With two games remaining in the Champions League group phase, Juventus are 14th in the table while City plummeted to 22nd, three places out of automatic elimination from the competition.
Since the start of November, City have conceded more goals (21) across all competitions than any other team in Europe's big five leagues, the worst spell in Guardiola's otherwise sparkling managerial career.
Live updates
1 minute ago
Thanks for joining Standard Sport’s LIVE coverage of Man City’s loss to Juventus.
Find our report and reaction below!
1 minute ago
Pep Guardiola admits Manchester City “have a lot of problems” heading into Sunday’s Manchester derby.
A dreadful run for City – a set of results unprecedented in Guardiola’s glittering managerial career – continued on Wednesday night following the 2-0 defeat at Juventus in the Champions League.
AP
1 hour ago
Manchester City’s nightmare run of form continued with a 2-0 defeat at Juventus in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
Second-half goals from Dusan Vlahovic and substitute Weston McKennie stunned Pep Guardiola's side at the Allianz Arena, leaving them in danger of missing out on the knockout stages.
AFP via Getty Images
1 hour ago
The Manchester derby awaits...
1 hour ago
90 mins: Two minutes added on here.
1 hour ago
87 mins: Not long for City to turn this around and, on the evidence of what we’ve seen so far, it’s not going to happen.
2 hours ago
82 mins: City certainly have the players to create something out of nothing but little about what they’ve done so far point towards that happening.
2 hours ago
77 mins: It’s amazing how ordinary City look at times.
Yes, they’ve got great players and are missing perhaps their most important but everything has been so slow this evening.
2 hours ago
74 mins: GOAL!
And Juve have two! City poured forward and are caught on the break.
McKennie plays it to Weah, who gets to the byline and returns the favour with a fine cross.
The American scores with an acrobatic finish!
2 hours ago
72 mins: It’s not as if City have played badly, defending from the goal aside.
It just looks relatively easy for Juve to deal with. They lack an injection of pace.