Dusan Vlahovic and Weston McKennie scored to lead Juventus to a 2-0 victory over Manchester City on Wednesday, delivering a major blow to the English champions’ hopes in the UEFA Champions League group stage.
In a fiercely contested match at Allianz Stadium, Vlahovic broke the deadlock in the 53rd minute. Kenan Yildiz swung in a precise cross, and City keeper Ederson fumbled the Serbian striker’s close-range header, which just crossed the line according to goal-line technology.
“The whole team played an excellent match,” Vlahovic told Amazon. “We prepared well and did everything we had to do. The result is amazing and can give us a great boost for the rest of the season.”
Manchester City, who lifted the Champions League trophy in 2023, continued a poor run of form with only one victory in their last ten games across all competitions. Midfielder Ilkay Gundogan acknowledged the team’s struggles: “Confidence is a big part of it, obviously it’s a mental issue as well. You can see that. You can see that sometimes one action we miss the ball or lose a duel and you can see that we drop immediately. It has such a big effect on us right now. At the crucial moment right now we are doing the wrong things.”
Despite City ramping up the pressure in search of an equalizer, Juventus doubled their lead against the run of play in the 75th minute. Timothy Weah delivered a cross that McKennie met with a sumptuous volley, hooking the ball past Ederson to seal the victory.
City had several opportunities to score, one of the best falling to Erling Haaland late in the first half. Kevin De Bruyne sent a beautiful through ball to the Norwegian, who got behind the defense before trying to chip goalkeeper Michele di Gregorio, who threw up his arm to block the shot.
Gundogan also unleashed a blistering strike from long range, but di Gregorio stretched to just push it wide. “We have done it really, really well,” City manager Pep Guardiola said. “We didn’t lose many balls that happened in the past, and we arrived in the positions. But the Italian teams that defend so deep and so compact, it is not easy—they are masters of these kinds of situations.”
With two games remaining in the group phase, Juventus climbed to 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, marking the worst spell in Guardiola’s otherwise sparkling managerial career.
Manchester City, who will host Manchester United in the Premier League on December 16, are scheduled to continue their Champions League campaign at Paris Saint-Germain on January 22.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
