Pep Guardiola admitted Manchester City must scrap to secure the best-case scenario of a Champions League playoff tie in February after seeing their latest defeat, a 2-0 reverse to Juventus, all but scupper their chances of automatic progress to the last 16.
City have now won once in 10 games and were well beaten in Turin despite dominating large chunks of the match. Now-familiar failings at both ends returned to haunt them and when a loose Josko Gvardiol clearance set Dusan Vlahovic’s opener in train the die was cast. They are 22nd in the 36-team table with a visit to Paris Saint-Germain and a home match against Club Brugge to conclude their schedule. A fall of three more places would see them eliminated while they are five points behind the top eight.
