EUROPA LEAGUE Manchester City v Juventus:WHEN SHEIKH Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi bought Manchester City on something of a fancy two years ago, this evening's match at Eastlands was the sort of occasion he must have pictured – playing legendary names such as Juventus on floodlit European nights.
But it is a measure of the ambition and expectation heaped on to City since the takeover and Mansour’s investment that Roberto Mancini is playing down the match’s significance, because it is in the Europa League, not the Champions League.
City’s manager made it clear he will make changes from the side who beat league leaders Chelsea on Saturday, resting key players from effectively that first-choice team so they can be fresh to play Newcastle United in the Premier League on Sunday, a game he described without hesitation as “very important”.
Invited several times to drum up excitement for a tie City fans are relishing as an echo of the club’s most successful era – City beat Juventus 1-0 at home in the old Uefa Cup in 1976, before losing 2-1 on aggregate – Mancini eventually conceded: “It is an important trophy. The Champions League is more important, but in February the Europa League becomes very important. If you win, you play another important game (the Uefa Super Cup) in Monaco. We want to go through the group by December, then concentrate on the Premier League.”
Mancini said he may replace Nigel de Jong, who flourished against Michael Essien on Saturday, with Patrick Vieira, who yesterday cited the Europa League as an opportunity for squad players such as himself to get a game.
Gradually, it was teased out of a football man even as determinedly deadpan as Mancini that he is excited by the prospect of playing Juventus, the team he confessed he supported as a boy, relished facing when he was the coach at Internazionale and may even like to manage some day.
“Why not?” he said, smiling. “Football is like that. I have never been an enemy of Juventus. Maybe I criticised some teams in the past, but never Juventus. I was a huge fan for years when I was a child so I have great respect for the club.”
Group A City of Manchester Stadium Tonight, kick-off – 8.05pm Live on Setanta Ireland, ESPN
Guardian Service
Probable Teams
MANCHESTER CITY(4-4-2): Hart; Boyata, Kompany, K Toure, Zabaleta; Milner, Y Toure, Vieira, A Johnson; Tevez, Jo.
JUVENTUS(4-4-2): Manninger; Motta, Bonucci, Chiellini, Grygera; Krasic, Sissoko, Marchisio, Pepe; Iaquinta, Del Piero.
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