Manchester City might be deep in a crisis which is unprecedented under iconic coach Pep Guardiola but on Wednesday the wobbling English champions take on a Juventus team with troubles of their own.
Juventus were booed and whistled by their supporters on Saturday night when they struggled back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at the death with mid-table Bologna.
Fans, who were expecting a change of tune when coach Thiago Motta left Bologna to replace Massimiliano Allegri in the summer, have been frustrated by a run of four straight draws which have left Juve off the pace at home and in Europe.
Had Juve not been in such uninspiring form Wednesday would have been a perfect opportunity to leapfrog City in the Champions League table, where the Italians sit 19th, behind their Premier League opponents on goal difference.
“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,” said Motta on Saturday.
Juve have drawn 11 of their 20 matches in all competitions this season and are seven points behind new Serie A leaders Atalanta after 15 matches, not the start that the club were hoping for.
Two wins from nine matches in all competitions, a run which includes a fully deserved home defeat to Stuttgart in October, have set the alarm bells ringing to the point that Agnelli family figurehead John Elkann visited the club’s Continassa training ground on Monday.
Elkann is the CEO of Exor, the holding company of the Agnellis who have long controlled Juve and are as close to a royal family as Italy has had since the country became a republic in 1946.
“I leave it to you to judge my work,” said Motta to reporters.
“All I do is keep working with the boys to improve and face our opponents with the right attitude.”
Motta has not been helped by a huge injury crisis which has ravaged his squad in the first half of the campaign and looked on Saturday to have also taken full-back Andrea Cambiaso.
Fortunately for Motta Cambiaso’s ankle knock, which led to him being substituted early against Bologna, is less serious than initially feared and the Italian could be fit for Wednesday night, while Douglas Luiz should be back for selection in midfield after two months on the sidelines.
Weston McKennie is also set to return to the Juve squad after missing their last three matches, but Motta is still without at least four players with defenders Gleison Bremer and Juan Cabal unavailable until the end of the season.
Motta does at least have a recognised centre-forward as Dusan Vlahovic returned to club action against Bologna and provided the pass from which Samuel Mbangula levelled in stoppage time.
Vlahovic’s deputy Arkadiusz Milik has been sidelined with an injury to the meniscus in his left knee since June, the Pole undergoing in November a second operation to resolve the problem.
