Beleaguered Manchester City travel to Italy on Wednesday to take on Juventus in a ‘make or break’ UEFA Champions League showdown.
These must be the most challenging days in Pep Guardiola’s illustrious managerial career, with Man City faltering on all fronts this season following a mighty start.
Held to a dismal 2-2 draw at perennial Premier League underachievers Crystal Palace on Saturday, the four-time consecutive champions failed to recover much ground on table-topping Liverpool.
Guardiola’s charges languish seven points below the Reds, who also have a game in hand, suggesting a fifth successive title is already a pipe dream for the Cityzens.
Unfortunately for the Spaniard, things don’t look much better on the continental stage.
Full-blown crisis
Man City made an unwanted Champions League history in the last round, becoming the first team to squander a 3-0 lead beyond the 75th minute in an unfathomable 3-3 draw against Feyenoord.
Josko Gvardiol, who won the club’s Goal of the Month award for his thumping header against Bournemouth, made a silly mistake that opened the floodgate.
That result added insult to injury following a humiliating 4-1 defeat at Sporting CP, leaving the Etihad outfit two points adrift of the automatic qualification spots.
Guardiola has never seen any of his teams concede 2+ goals in three successive Champions League matches throughout his trophy-laden career.
But his men are staring down the barrel of that undesired run.
Abysmal form
Except for a 3-0 home league triumph against Nottingham Forest, Man City are winless in eight of their last nine outings across all competitions (D2, L6).
On top of that, Guardiola’s lads haven’t won outside the Etihad since late October, suffering five defeats across their last six road trips (D1), including the abovementioned fiasco in Lisbon.
The upcoming trip to Turin doesn’t bode well, considering Man City’s underwhelming five-game winless streak against Juventus (D2, L3).
On the other hand, Juventus have only lost one of their 18 competitive games under new boss Thiago Motta.
However, it’s worth noting that they’ve shared the spoils 11 times, establishing themselves as stalemate specialists.
Prediction
Given the circumstances, neither team would benefit much from a point.
There’s no margin for error as both sides sit outside the top eight pre-round.
Juventus have been a tough nut to crack at home, and it’s hard to put it past the record-time Serie A champions to hold Man City winless again.