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MOTD: Manchester City 1-2 Juventus

By on September 15, 2015

They say 2-0 is the most dangerous scoreline in football, meant as a warning not to get complacent during a match. 1-0, in reality, is far more perilous, and as Manuel Pellegrini’s men can testify tonight. Yet as Manchester City’s European woes continue The Sky Blues have looked insecure in any winning position in Europe.

It’s a trope that City have struggled in the Champions League and a 2-1 loss to Juventus kept the storyline running. At their fifth time of trying, City looked no more savvy than before. Though Juventus are still winless in Serie A, their clinical finishing and tight defense, coupled with an unsurprisingly outstanding performance from Gianluigi Buffon, made up for Giorgio Chiellini’s early second-half own goal. The feeling of another disastrous campaign of unfulfilled expectations is enough by itself to take the breath away from City.

But before jumping to conclusions, it’s important to note that Sergio Aguero was sidelined with injury and City clearly lacked a cutting edge, letting up a string of chances after taking the lead. Certainly, City lacked some of the confidence they’ve shown in the league but their defensive performance was relatively solid up until the seventieth minute. It didn’t help that Vincent Kompany came off with a calf injury just five minutes later.

City’s mental lapse, which might have gone unpunished in the domestic league, cost them the three points against the reigning European finalists. Pellegrini added after the match, per City’s official website: “I expect that when we have chances we must score, because this is the Champions League and the difference between the teams is very slight, especially such a strong team as Juventus. Of course if you have clear chances and you don’t score… Juventus didn’t create so many but they finished well.”

The visitors set up in a 4-3-3 suited to the counter-attack, having not won on English soil since 1996. For every chance City earned, Juve had a quick break down the other end. Raheem Sterling tested Buffon from the left early on but Juve put the ball into the back of the net down at the other end, with Paul Pogba heading home Juan Cuadrado’s cross in the eleventh minute. While the goal was called back as Alvaro Morata was spotted in an offside position, Hernanes almost made up for it soon after with a brilliant long range free-kick inches wide of the post.

Fernandinho saw a whipping effort sail whiskers wide of the post but Juventus had their own efforts from long range to counter City’s threat. In fact, City only found the opener when Kompany headed David Silva’s corner onto Chiellini’s face and into the back of the net. Sterling had a golden chance to make it two as Silva slid him in down the left, only for the former Liverpool to lack composure in his far-post finish and have it blocked by Buffon, who also did miraculously well to get up and save Silva’s shot from the rebound.

How sweet Juve’s beautiful equalizer must then have felt. In the seventieth minute, Pogba lofted a lovely ball over the top for Mario Mandzukic, who ghosted in behind Kompany to poke the ball home at the far post. It was his first and only shot of the night but that’s the job of a poacher; a role that City clearly lacked.

With the momentum at the backs of Massimilano Allegri’s men, it was only a matter of time before Morata tucked a low, curling effort in off the post from twenty yards to complete the comeback.

The match can be branded as a signal that City are still serving their apprenticeship in the Champions League, or that it was instead a momentary lapse of focus that did them in. It doesn’t matter; they’re the same thing. It’s the same old struggle for City in Europe and three points dropped.  They’ll look back on this loss and try to take away the positives, but there’s always the overwhelming sense of frustration that creeps into the periphery of their mindset.

Homepage photo credit: Leon R Queeley, via Flickr

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.