The mess at Manchester City has left Pep Guardiola’s team in a REALLY swak position in the Champions League ahead of tonight’s 10pm clash with Juventus in Turin.
City have won just once in their past nine games in all competitions, with an injury crisis and a loss of form for some of their biggest stars leading to the worst run of Guardiola’s career.
Despite a 4-1 humbling by Sporting Lisbon and an embarrassing collapse from 3-0 up to draw 3-3 against Feyenoord, they are still in a position to qualify from the new league-phase format.
They sit 17th in the 36-team table, with a top-24 finish enough to secure a place in the playoff round at the least.
However, their chances of direct entry to the last 16 by finishing in the top eight look slim, with another difficult trip to PSG to come in January before a home game against Club Brugge.
Of tonight’s trip to Italy, Guardiola says: “We are going to Turin to play against the most important team in Italy together with Milan and Inter, but in terms of Serie A, the team that has won the most.
“It is a beautiful stadium, and we will try to get a good result. The doctors and physiotherapists are working incredibly this season, like I have never seen before, but the reality is that we have few players to rotate in this period.”
With the Manchester derby coming up this weekend, Guardiola will druk Phil Foden and company to the max this week.
As for Dusan Vlahovic and his Juve pals, they are in an equally desperate position with two wins from five leaving them 19th on the log.
TONIGHT’S CHAMPS LEAGUE FIXTURES
Atletico Madrid v Slovan Bratislava, Lille v Sturm Graz (both 7.45pm), Arsenal v Monaco, Benfica v Bologna, Dortmund v Barcelona, Feyenoord v Sparta Prague, AC Milan v Crvena Zvezda, Stuttgart v Young Boys (all 10pm).