Tonight sees Juventus visit Eastlands as the biggest continental club we’ve played, outside of the Thomas Cook Trophy, since the 70’s. Back then Juve were lead from the back by Dino Zoff and managed by Giovanni Trappatoni – a manager who now sees more of Shay Given than we do.
The current Juve side may not be one of their greatest as they undergo a rebuilding process, both on and off the pitch. However the Agnelli family have dug deep once again to allow the signing of Krasic. Like ourselves, they are currently attempting to assimilate a host of new signings, though their start to the season has been less satisfactory than ours.
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City put in a thoroughly professional performance to take three points from their opening group fixture. Once David Silva had scored his first goal for the club after 8 minutes, City were in a position of strength and never let it slip. There should have been more before Jo bagged his first for the club in two years.
Roberto Mancini rotated a portion of his squad and played two up front with a midfield diamond. A slightly unusual system but it worked well.
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Hart – While not having to make any saves, Joe needed to be on his toes at set pieces. His judgement was good with a couple of punches, then letting his defence take care of the rest. 6
Zabaleta – A welcome run out for the Argentine. Solid defensively and he took up good positions in attack to provide width. As usual Pablo finished the game in a different position to which he started – this time left-back. 7.
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City head to Austria for an early 6pm (BST) kick-off against Salzburg in our opening Europa League fixture. With ourselves and Juventus the favourites to go through, Roberto Mancini could be looking for a victory.
Not that Salzburg should be underestimated, having already come through two Champions League qualifiers before dropping out 3-4 to Hapoel Tel Aviv. Last season they won all six Europa League group games defeating the likes of Lazio and Villarreal along the way.
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