Key events
3 mins: City have had the ball for almost all the game thus far, and they eventually work it to De Bruyne on the right. Di Gregorio catches his cross.
1 min: City have kicked off, and immediately gone route one, Ederson pumping a long ball downfield and winning a throw-in as a result.
Pennants are exchanged and the coin tossed. Kyle Walker win the toss. “Friends, Mancunians, Countrymen … I come not to bury Walker, but to praise him! Frankly, if Citeh are having problems very little of it will be due to deficiency on the part of Mr Fast’n’Reliable. Yes, he may be getting burned a bit more than in the past, but maybe this is also down to weaknesses elsewhere in the Guardiola meta-verse system? Any team would be happy to have a team member who ALWAYS gives the full 100% on the pitch and never slags off the management or teammates during the hard times. Ave, Kyle!”
The players come out, and around the ground fans wave pleasingly colour-coded flags.
I mean, this would do, wouldn’t it?
The big pre-match news is that Matheus Nunes has tiny shin pads with his own face on them.
A little more pre-match reading from you, this time from the pen/keyboard of Ben McAleer for WhoScored. Is this the end of the road for Kyle Walker?
The hardest thing a professional footballer can do is admit when their race is run. Gary Neville did so in the toilets at the Hawthorns on New Year’s Day in 2011. He retired a month later. His infamous 71-minute display has become the benchmark for poor performances from over-the-hill players. “He’s had his Neville-at-West-Brom moment,” fans would quip. Kyle Walker has had many of these in recent months, but seemingly not one to convince the defender his career is drawing to a close.
Walker is one of the most decorated right-backs in English football history. The Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and Champions League – the 34-year-old has won them all since leaving Tottenham for Manchester City in 2017. Now, there is a real chance he won’t add to his trophy haul.
Much more here:
Here’s a bit of Jamie Jackson on Pep Guardiola’s declaration that this stint at Manchester City will be his last job in club management. I’m not sure I believe it, but he didn’t seem to be equivocating:
At some point I will feel like it’s enough and at that moment I will stop for sure. I’m going to stop. I am not going to join another team, I’m not going to leave to go to another country [for a club]. I won’t have the energy. Now I’m still here, but to think about starting again, the whole process of training – no, no.
Here’s Jamie’s story:
The teams!
The team sheets have been handed in, and we therefore know that tonight’s teams look like this:
Juventus: Di Gregorio, Danilo, Gatti, Kalulu Kyatengwa, Savona, Locatelli, Thuram, Francisco Conceicao, Koopmeiners, Yildiz, Vlahovic. Subs: Perin, Pinsoglio, McKennie, Adzic, Fagioli, Weah, Douglas Luiz, Rouhi, Mbangula.
Man City: Ederson, Walker, Dias, Gvardiol, Lewis, Silva, Gundogan, Grealish, De Bruyne, Doku, Haaland. Subs: Ortega, Kovacic, Savio, Matheus Luiz, Foden, Wright, Simpson-Pusey, O’Reilly, McAtee, Wilson-Esbrand, Hudson.
Referee: Clement Turpin (France).
Hello world!
Will this be any good? I’m very much an optimist, but given the form of these two sides it’s hard to tell. Juventus have drawn their last four matches, five of the last six, and seven of the last nine. In that time they’ve tied 0-0 (twice), 1-1 (twice), 2-2 (twice) and fought back from 4-2 down to draw 4-4 (once). They are absolute wizards of the stalemate. So while it’s true to say that they haven’t lost in nine, they’ve also only won two of those. In the plus column, Douglas Luiz and Weston McKennie could both be back from injury tonight.
The less said about Manchester City’s last nine games the better, but for the record they’ve lost nine and drawn two (including, in their last Champions League game, the 3-3 Juventus need to complete the set). And for this game they’re without John Stones, Nathan Ake, Mateo Kovacic and Oscar Bobb, plus Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji.
This is (some of) what Thiago Motta, the Juventus coach, had to say about this fixture:
I don’t think there is a best time to play Manchester City, but we will face the match as we always do, by trying to stop them from playing their football and impose our own play on them. We have prepared to give it our all in the game, carefully studying what we must do and what we must not do against such a huge opponent. I cannot pass judgement on their current situation, but this is a team that has proven their immense value over the years. I have enormous respect for them and for their coach Pep Guardiola, for whom facts simply speak for themselves, as he has managed to win everything and consistently. We know that Manchester City want to attack and keep the ball. We will have to defend well and show great quality when we have possession.
So, Juve, let’s see how much careful studying you’ve done, then.
