Italian media hold nothing back on Man City and Pep Guardiola after disastrous Juventus defeat
City put in a poor performance in Turin on Wednesday evening.
The Italian media have not held back with their assessment of Manchester City and Pep Guardiola as the Premier League side were beaten 2-0 against Juventus in the Champions League on Wednesday evening.
The 36-time Serie A champions were simply too good for Guardiola’s side, who continued their torrid run of form, having won just one of their last ten matches in all competitions.
Historically, the Turin-based side have been City’s ‘bogey team’ in European competition for several years, with Juve now unbeaten in their last six matches against the English side (four wins and two draws).
Despite the showing, Guardiola explained how he thought his team “played good”, which not everyone agreed with, the Italian media included.
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Italian outlet Corriere dello Sport said: “There have been too many moments in which City have been sad: the leading team of European football is a distant memory, the crisis is palpable.
“In the many slowness and inaccuracies of the ball, in the poor mobility without the ball of midfielders and attackers, we have glimpsed the disconcerting disorientation of Guardiola.”
Calciomercato even dubbed one of City’s star players as “unrecognisable” for his lacklustre performance at the Allianz Stadium. The outlet gave Erling Haaland a 4/10 rating.
The publication said: “A monumental Gatti and Kalulu [performance] muzzled him. He has the pass to take the lead but is hypnotised by Di Gregorio.
“He did not arrive at the Allianz Stadium: a night to forget for the Norwegian Viking.”
Goal referred to the City forward as the “worst [player] on the pitch”
The outlet said: “The Norwegian striker disappeared into the black and white shirts, unable to have an impact on the match and wasting his only chance.”
Of course the chance mentioned came on the 39th minute, when Kevin De Bruyne received Ilkay Gundogan's pass, before the Belgian threaded a perfectly weighted ball through the home side's defence which Haaland latched onto before trying to chip the onrushing Di Gregorio.
But the Juve 'keeper managed to smother the shot and that was closest the Norwegian got to scoring.
The result left City 22nd in the 36-team Champions League group phase which would see them secure an unseeded knock out phase play-off.
Topics: Manchester City, Pep Guardiola, Juventus, Champions League, Serie A, Erling Haaland
Luke Davies