Europa League Gp A, Matchday 2 – 30/9/10 (20.05 UK)
Man City 1 – 1 Juventus
Iaquinta 10 (J), A Johnson 37 (M)
City of Manchester Stadium
Vincenzo Iaquinta’s long-range strike earned Juventus another point at the City of Manchester Stadium, but Alessandro Del Piero rattled the crossbar.
Gigi Del Neri’s men need to find consistency after rapid peaks and troughs in this campaign. They also badly required Euro points after a shock 3-3 home draw with Lech Poznan. Alex Del Piero and Vincenzo Iaquinta were picked to lead the line, while Paolo De Ceglie was back from injury. Roberto Mancini’s City were fresh from beating Chelsea and could take a commanding lead at the top of Group A, but were without the injured Mario Balotelli.
Juve had the first chance with Iaquinta’s angled drive smothered at the near post by Joe Hart. A fierce Del Piero free kick from distance bounced right in front of Hart, who flapped it away, but nobody was ready to tap in the loose ball.
The Bianconeri were repeatedly testing Hart from distance and it was a tactic that paid off after 10 minutes. Iaquinta unleashed an audacious effort from 25 metres that took a slight deflection off Kolo Toure’ to whip past the goalkeeper into the far bottom corner.
Manchester City nearly equalised a minute later with a couple of dangerous Adam Johnson corners. Alex Manninger was fortunate to pluck the ball out of the air before it crossed over after some chaotic scenes in the six-yard box.
Milos Krasic had a penalty appeal waved away for a clumsy tackle, while Carlos Tevez and former Juve man Patrick Vieira flashed efforts wide.
City came extremely close to an equaliser on 33 minutes, as a backwards Gareth Barry header beat Manninger to crack against the base of the far post, then the goalkeeper managed to close down the follow-up from Johnson.
Tevez incredibly ballooned over the bar from five yards, but the linesman saved his blushes by lifting the offside flag.
City did equalise with a well-worked goal. The smart through ball from Yaya Toure’ sent Johnson clear through the middle and he kept his cool to slide the finish past Manninger in a one-on-one.
Krasic was booked for simulation when he fell over Vincent Kompany’s outstretched foot. There was certainly contact, but the Serb was also quite clearly looking for it.
After the break Emmanuel Adebayor forced a save out of Manninger, but was offside anyway. Simone Pepe replaced Jorge Martinez, who was coming back from an injury, while Giorgio Chiellini nodded wide from a corner.
Johnson dribbled between defenders, but the low drive was comfortably controlled. Barri also fired over after chesting down a cross on the edge of the area.
A trademark Del Piero free kick curled just wide of the far post with Hart diving across the face of goal.
At the other end a Tevez cross was whipped in and only glanced off Adebayor’s head at the back post. Adebayor then wasted a counter-attack when he was crowded out in the box.
Marco Motta replaced the not 100 per cent fit De Ceglie, moving Zdenek Grygera to left-back. Immediately there were two chances, as the first counter saw Iaquinta barged off the ball, then City went on an identical run cut short by a Grygera bookable offence.
Juventus came so close to a winner with five minutes to go. Del Piero’s free kick went over the wall and cannoned off the underside of the crossbar to bounce back off the ground, but did not entirely cross the line.
First Tevez, then Silva tried to squeeze it in from close range, but the Bianconeri shirts clammed up to charge them down. Kolo Toure needed two crucial tackles in quick succession to stop Pepe and then Felipe Melo in the box.
Momo Sissoko hit a daisy-cutter from distance that whistled wide of the upright.
Manchester City: Hart; Boateng (Milner 84), Kompany, Kolo Toure, Zabaleta (Boyata 46); Yaya Toure, Vieira, Barry; A Johnson; Adebayor (Silva 73), Tevez
Juventus: Manninger; Grygera, Bonucci, Chiellini, De Ceglie (Motta 72); Krasic (Felipe Melo 75), Sissoko, Marchisio, Martinez (Pepe 54); Iaquinta, Del Piero
Ref: Iturralde Gonzalez (Spa)
Juventus Group 
Posted on 30/09/2010
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