Draw specialists Juventus under fire ahead of City visit for CL clash

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.

“We’re a young team and we need to improve in all departments, both physically and mentally,” Motta told reporters on Tuesday.

“But we have shown more than once that we have a lot of character, we play well as a unit... We have the potential to improve in all areas.”

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, 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.

“I’ve never used it as an excuse. Every team goes through cycles, the most important thing is facing difficulties head on and that’s what we’ve done,” added Motta.

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.

Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund will have a heavily depleted squad for its Champions League game against Barcelona after defender Niklas Süle was ruled out for “a few months” with an injury.

Ahead of Wednesday’s game in Germany, Dortmund coach Nuri Sahin said Tuesday that Süle joins an injury list including fellow defender Waldemar Anton and attacking midfielder Julian Brandt, while forwards Maximilian Beier and Karim Adeyemi are both doubtful.

Sahin didn’t specify exactly how Süle was injured but indicated it was a repeat of the ankle problem which caused him to miss much of October and November. That could mean captain Emre Can, usually a midfielder, drops back into defense alongside Nico Schlotterbeck against Barcelona.

Adeyemi hasn’t played in more than two months since he scored a hat trick against Celtic in the Champions League on Oct. 1 and picked up a muscle injury. Sahin said Adeyemi was on his way back to fitness but “we just have to weigh up whether it makes sense to throw him in after such a long time.”

Barcelona is third and last season’s Champions League runner-up Dortmund fourth in the 36-team standings on 12 points apiece.

Agencies