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Played
December 16, 2010 6:00 PM GMT
Stadio Olimpico di Torino — Torino
Referee: I. Vad II
Attendance: 6992
December 16, 2010 6:00 PM GMT
Stadio Olimpico di Torino — Torino
Referee: I. Vad II
Attendance: 6992
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| Juventus | 8.50 | 2.40 | 2.35 | 9.00 | 2.40 | 2.40 |
| Draw | 1.12 | 3.20 | 3.20 | 1.18 | 3.25 | 3.25 |
| Manchester City | 9.00 | 3.00 | 2.95 | 9.00 | 2.90 | 2.75 |
Juventus - Manchester City Preview: Balotelli left at home while Given may be handed rare start
By John Elmes
TEAM NEWS
Juventus
The Old Lady had been sweating over the long-term fitness of midfielder Claudio Marchisio, who sustained a calf injury in Sunday’s game against Lazio, although he is out for the City game, it is not as serious as first thought.
Veteran Italy keeper Gianluigi Buffon is still injured having not played a game for Juve all season. Although Marco Storari played against Lazio, Alex Manninger is the likelier starter.
Right-back Zdenek Grygera may return after five weeks out in this dead rubber.
Possible starting XI: Manninger; Grygera, Chiellini, Bonucci, Grosso; Krasic, Melo, Sissoko, Martinez; Del Piero, Iaquinta.
Manchester City
City's progression was assured in their match against Salzburg, although they could go through as top of group with a win against Juventus. With current in-club difficulties, however, their minds may be elsewhere.
After suspension against West Ham, captain Carlos Tevez trained with the side before their trip to Italy, whether he plays is another matter.
Mario Balotelli has been left behind, while Aleksandar Kolarov may return after missing the West Ham match through suspension.
Possible starting XI: Given; Boateng, Richards, K Toure, Kolarov; A Johnson, Kompany, De Jong, Silva; Y Toure; Jo.
Pride at stake
This match will not affect either side's fate as Juventus are out and City are through. The Italians will not want to end their Europa campaign, however, with a home defeat. They are unbeaten in the group, but have suffered from too many draws. Now they have a chance to salvage some pride against super-rich City and Roberto Mancini, who through his associations with Inter will not be too popular with Juve fans.
In Serie A they are second, only six points off AC Milan, after a gritty 2-1 victory over title rivals Lazio at the weekend, so Luigi Del Neri’s men have a spring their step. With the buoyancy of results, first team players are bullish about their chances against Mancini's men.
"The Europa League game against Manchester City doesn't mean anything for the standings, but it does mean alot for our pride," Leonard Bonucci said recently. "We want to do well and honour this competition until the end because we are Juventus, and we always go on the pitch to win."
Juventus veteran Alessandro Del Piero added: "Although our thoughts are on the game against Chievo on Sunday, one game we are preparing to honour the Europa League is the one against Manchester City."
Welcome break
Most clubs go through a player catastrophe at some point in their existence, and for Manchester City, this was their week. Their talismanic captain Carlos Tevez revealed his desire to leave on Sunday and reiterated it on Monday. With City rejecting his request, fans will not know whether their hero will play or quit. The Europa League, where City have shown decent form, will therefore be see as light relief for City after the travails of the Premier League.
Vincent Kompany has emphasised the squad unity, insisting the team has the fortitude to not let off-pitch problems affect their play.
He said: "It's a really, really good squad, a great group of guys and we're very, very close to each other.
"It's a group of guys who want to achieve together. We're all in the same squad but, in training, if you divide us into two teams, ultimately you want to win the game."
Kompany might not want to look to history for inspiration against Juventus, because the last time they played in Turin, in the first round of the 1976-77 Uefa Cup – the Europa League's predecessor - they lost 2-0.
Juventus
The Old Lady had been sweating over the long-term fitness of midfielder Claudio Marchisio, who sustained a calf injury in Sunday’s game against Lazio, although he is out for the City game, it is not as serious as first thought.
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Veteran Italy keeper Gianluigi Buffon is still injured having not played a game for Juve all season. Although Marco Storari played against Lazio, Alex Manninger is the likelier starter.
Right-back Zdenek Grygera may return after five weeks out in this dead rubber.
Possible starting XI: Manninger; Grygera, Chiellini, Bonucci, Grosso; Krasic, Melo, Sissoko, Martinez; Del Piero, Iaquinta.
Manchester City
City's progression was assured in their match against Salzburg, although they could go through as top of group with a win against Juventus. With current in-club difficulties, however, their minds may be elsewhere. After suspension against West Ham, captain Carlos Tevez trained with the side before their trip to Italy, whether he plays is another matter.
Mario Balotelli has been left behind, while Aleksandar Kolarov may return after missing the West Ham match through suspension.
Possible starting XI: Given; Boateng, Richards, K Toure, Kolarov; A Johnson, Kompany, De Jong, Silva; Y Toure; Jo.
Pride at stake
This match will not affect either side's fate as Juventus are out and City are through. The Italians will not want to end their Europa campaign, however, with a home defeat. They are unbeaten in the group, but have suffered from too many draws. Now they have a chance to salvage some pride against super-rich City and Roberto Mancini, who through his associations with Inter will not be too popular with Juve fans.
In Serie A they are second, only six points off AC Milan, after a gritty 2-1 victory over title rivals Lazio at the weekend, so Luigi Del Neri’s men have a spring their step. With the buoyancy of results, first team players are bullish about their chances against Mancini's men.
"The Europa League game against Manchester City doesn't mean anything for the standings, but it does mean alot for our pride," Leonard Bonucci said recently. "We want to do well and honour this competition until the end because we are Juventus, and we always go on the pitch to win."
Juventus veteran Alessandro Del Piero added: "Although our thoughts are on the game against Chievo on Sunday, one game we are preparing to honour the Europa League is the one against Manchester City."
Welcome break
Most clubs go through a player catastrophe at some point in their existence, and for Manchester City, this was their week. Their talismanic captain Carlos Tevez revealed his desire to leave on Sunday and reiterated it on Monday. With City rejecting his request, fans will not know whether their hero will play or quit. The Europa League, where City have shown decent form, will therefore be see as light relief for City after the travails of the Premier League.
Vincent Kompany has emphasised the squad unity, insisting the team has the fortitude to not let off-pitch problems affect their play.
He said: "It's a really, really good squad, a great group of guys and we're very, very close to each other.
"It's a group of guys who want to achieve together. We're all in the same squad but, in training, if you divide us into two teams, ultimately you want to win the game."
Kompany might not want to look to history for inspiration against Juventus, because the last time they played in Turin, in the first round of the 1976-77 Uefa Cup – the Europa League's predecessor - they lost 2-0.
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Field Report
Reader's Predictions
Top 3 Predictions
-
Juventus 2-1 Manchester City
- 15.68 %
-
Juventus 2-0 Manchester City
- 14.97 %
-
Juventus 1-0 Manchester City
- 11.02 %
| Europa League (EL) | 16 Dec 2010 | Juventus 1 - Manchester City 1 |
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| Europa League (EL) | 30 Sep 2010 | Manchester City 1 - Juventus 1 |
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Juventus
    |
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| 20 May 2012 | Juventus 0 - Napoli 2 | ITAC |
| 13 May 2012 | Juventus 3 - Atalanta 1 | ITA1 |
| 6 May 2012 | Cagliari 0 - Juventus 2 | ITA1 |
| 2 May 2012 | Juventus 1 - Lecce 1 | ITA1 |
| 29 Apr 2012 | Novara 0 - Juventus 4 | ITA1 |
Manchester City
|
||
| 13 May 2012 | Manchester City 3 - QPR 2 | EPL |
| 6 May 2012 | Newcastle United 0 - Manchester City 2 | EPL |
| 30 Apr 2012 | Manchester City 1 - Manchester United 0 | EPL |
| 22 Apr 2012 | Wolves 0 - Manchester City 2 | EPL |
| 14 Apr 2012 | Norwich City 1 - Manchester City 6 | EPL |
| Returns: | Juventus £90.00 |
|
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| Returns: | Draw £32.50 |
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| Returns: | Manchester City £90.00 |
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| 13 | Alexander Manninger | Goalkeeper |
| 26 | Zdenek Grygera | Defender |
| 3 | Giorgio Chiellini | Defender |
| 6 | Nicola Legrottaglie | Defender |
| 13 | Armand Traoré | Defender |
| 27 | Milos Krasic | Midfielder |
| 10 | Felipe Melo | Midfielder |
| 23 | Mohamed Lamine Sissoko | Midfielder |
| 7 | Simone Pepe | Midfielder |
| - | Niccolò Giannetti | Striker |
| 10 | Alessandro Del Piero | Striker |
| 30 | Marco Storari | Goalkeeper |
| - | Vincenzo Camilleri | Defender |
| 19 | Leonardo Bonucci | Defender |
| - | Filippo Boniperti | Midfielder |
| 64 | Marcel Büchel | Midfielder |
| 6 | Manuel Giandonato | Midfielder |
| 9 | Vincenzo Iaquinta | Striker |
| 1 | Shay Given | Goalkeeper |
| 17 | Jerome Boateng | Defender |
| 2 | Micah Richards | Defender |
| 25 | Dedryk Boyata | Defender |
| 3 | Wayne Bridge | Defender |
| 32 | Shaun Wright-Phillips | Midfielder |
| 7 | James Milner | Midfielder |
| - | Patrick Vieira | Midfielder |
| 11 | Adam Johnson | Midfielder |
| 43 | Alex Tchuimeni-Nimely | Striker |
| 27 | Jo | Striker |
| 12 | Stuart Taylor | Goalkeeper |
| 5 | Pablo Zabaleta | Defender |
| 35 | Scott Kay | Defender |
| 41 | Ben Mee | Defender |
| 53 | Chris Chantler | Defender |
| 59 | Omar Elabdellaoui | Midfielder |
| 48 | Abdisalam Ibrahim | Midfielder |
| Milos Krasic | |
| Position: | Midfielder |
| Squad Number: | 27 |
| Games | Goals | YC | RC |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Krasic is a tricky winger and has impressed recently, especially with his injury-time winner against Lazio over the weekend. Juventus will be hoping he can continue his scoring form in the dead rubber.
| David Silva | |
| Position: | Striker |
| Squad Number: | 21 |
| Games | Goals | YC | RC |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Silva has started to find his feet in the blue of City, after people thought his continental physique and playing style would not cut it in the buffeting nature of the Premier League. Now his vision, goal scoring ability, ball skills and pace is starting to pay off in England, so in the more sedate Italian game, expect fireworks.
13 
26 
3 
6 
13 
27 
10 
23 
7 
0 
10 
1 
17 
2 
25 
3 
32 
7 
0 
11 
43 
27 No matter what the difference in talent and squad value may be – and the talent is fairly balanced – Juventus are difficult to beat at home. Manchester City are hitting scoring form but this match will not affect their progress into the last 32. All things point to a draw, but with City looking slick they may just shade it.
Match News
Top Scorers
| Player | Goals | Penalties | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
Striker Schalke |
14 | 3 |
|
Radamel Falcao
Striker Atlético Madrid |
12 | 1 |
|
Adrián
Striker Atlético Madrid |
10 | 0 |
|
Fernando Llorente Torres
Striker Bilbao |
7 | 2 |
|
Jonatan Ezequiel Cristaldo
Striker Metalist Kharki |
7 | 0 |
