Man City vs Juventus – Away defeat may not be bad for Italians
Published:Juventus may not be too disappointed if they lose to Manchester City in the Europa League if it ends up leading to a similar end result as when they last played the same opponents away from home.
Luigi Del Neri’s men suffered a 1-0 defeat at Manchester City in the competition in 1977, but went on to win the second leg at home and from there won the tournament.
Juventus are 16/1 to win the Europa League this season, but it may be important they take something from their game at Eastlands if they wish to achieve this feat, particularly after drawing at home to Lech Poznan in their Group A opener.
Manchester City are 10/11 to beat Juventus and follow up on their victory over Red Bull Salzburg, with the visitors 4/1 to return to Italy with the three points.
However, history does not lend itself to a Juventus win as they have only triumphed once in seven away games against Manchester clubs and also lost to AC Milan in the 2003 Champions League final in the city.
Meanwhile, Roberto Mancini’s men are unbeaten in their last seven home European games and have won on six of these occasions.
Adam Johnson may have a point to prove for City after being left out of their last domestic game and is 8/1 to be the first goalscorer against Juventus.
Lech Poznan host Salzburg in the other Group A clash and will be buoyed by the largely unexpected point they gained against Juventus.
They are 11/10 to beat Salzburg and significantly improve their chances of qualifying for the knockout stages of the competition, with the Austrians 5/2 to win.
Manchester City are the 4/7 favourites to win Group A of the Europa League. See the whole Group A winners betting odds market.
