Juventus vs Man City Half-Time Update

It’s Juventus who go into the half-time break leading opponents Manchester City 1-0 in the last Europa League Group A match Turin.

The action started quickly, and there was a penalty claim from the away side after just four minutes; James Milner's cross attempt hit the hand of Zdenek Grygera in the box, the referee decided however it was ball-to-hand.

Veteran captain Alessandro Del Piero, who has 279 goals in the colours of the Old Lady had a possible attempt on 12 minutes, but was quickly closed down by the last City defender.

The game sadly slowed down after 20 minutes; and at one point looked to be a repeat of yesterday’s Liverpool vs FC Utrecht match. It wasn’t until the 43rd minute when a del Piero cross found Niccolo Giannetti, who poked the ball home ahead of Dedryck Boyata to give the home crowd something to cheer about. 

Blues boss Roberto Mancini, who grew up supporting Juventus, makes nine changes to his side that won against West Ham on Saturday; Jerome Boateng and Jo are the two players who survive. They are joined by five England internationals; captain Micah Richards, left-back Wayne Bridge, and midfielders Adam Johnson, James Milner and Shaun Wright-Phillips.

Young striker Alex Nimely is handed his full debut for Manchester City, and is 9/1 to score in the match, though he is up against Juve’s experienced centre-back Giorgio Chiellini, who starts for Juventus.

Patrick Vieira makes a start for City against one of his old employers and is 20/1 to score tonight. If that is the last goal of the game, a 10/1 bet for a 2-1 City win would go nicely alongside it.

JFC: Manninger, Chiellini, Traore, Grygera, Legrottaglie, Felipe Melo, Sissoko, Krasic, Del Piero, Pepe, Giannetti

Substitutes: Storari, Bonucci, Camilleri, Buchel, Giandonato, Boniperti, Iaquinta

MCFC: Given, Richards, Bridge, Boateng, Boyata, Milner, Wright-Phillips, Johnson, Vieira, Jo, Nimely

Substitutes: Taylor, Zabaleta, Mee, Kay, Ibrahim, Chantler, Elabdellaoui