Champions League: Manchester City lose to Juventus; Arsenal, Barcelona win

LONDON: Dusan Vlahovic and Weston McKennie scored to lead Juventus to a 2-0 Champions League win over Manchester City on Wednesday, a major blow to the English champions’ hopes of clinching a top-eight spot in the group stage of Europe’s elite competition.

City, who lifted the 2023 Champions League trophy, continued a poor run of form which has brought only one victory in their last 10 games across all competitions.

“(Confidence) is a big part of it, obviously it’s a mental issue as well. You can see that. You can see that sometimes one action we miss the ball or lose a duel and you can see that we drop immediately,” City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan told Amazon Prime.

“It has such a big effect on us right now. At the crucial moment right now we are doing the wrong things.”

Vlahovic scored by the narrowest of margins in the 53rd minute when Kenan Yildiz swung the ball in and City keeper Ederson fumbled the Serb’s header from close range and the ball sneaked just across the line, according to the goalline technology.

City picked up the tempo in a desperate attempt to equalise and sent numbers forward, but Juve capitalised to double their lead against the run of play when McKennie hooked Timothy Weah’s cross in with a sumptuous volley in the 75th minute.

With two games remaining in the group phase, Juventus are 14th in the table while City plummeted to 22nd, three places out of automatic elimination from the competition.

Substitute Ferran Torres scored twice including an 85th-minute winner as Barcelona earned a hard-fought 3-2 victory at Borussia Dortmund to move to the brink of qualification.

In a pulsating five-goal second half, Torres struck twice in 10 minutes after coming on in the 71st minute to lift Barcelona to 15 points, in second place with two games remaining in the league phase.

Dortmund twice came from a goal down with Serhou Guirassy scoring both goals but they could not do it a third time after Torres grabbed his second after being teed up by Lamine Yamal.

The Germans dropped to ninth in the standings on 12 points, with the top eight earning automatic qualification to the round of 16.

Bukayo Saka once again proved the catalyst for Arsenal as his double helped secure a relatively smooth 3-0 home victory against AS Monaco that put the Londoners in sight of the Champions League knockout stage on Wednesday.

Mikel Arteta’s side began the fixture outside the top eight in the expanded league stage and with plenty of work to do to avoid being dragged into the playoffs.

It was not all plain sailing for the hosts who were guilty of some profligate finishing but England forward Saka took his season tally to nine goals in all competitions as Arsenal moved into third place in the table.

Arsenal, who have Dinamo Zagreb and Girona still to play, have 13 points while Monaco, who began the evening level with them, are 16th with 10 points.

Antoine Griezmann scored twice as Atletico Madrid claimed a 10th win in a row in all competitions with a comfortable 3-1 home victory over Slovan Bratislava.

Atletico moved up to 10th with 12 points from six matches, while Slovan are rooted to the bottom of the 36-team table having lost all six games and they cannot make the playoffs.

Griezmann scored for the fifth successive match with a first-half header and a simple finish at the near post in the second period, adding to well-taken opener from his strike partner Julian Alvarez.

A late Tammy Abraham goal earned AC Milan a thrilling 2-1 Champions League win over Red Star Belgrade at the San Siro to make it four wins in a row for the Italian side.

Abraham’s 87th-minute winner was a cruel blow to the Serbian visitors, who came back from a goal down and were pushing for a well-deserved winner when the Englishman struck to lift Milan up to 12th spot on 12 points. Red Star are 31st with three points.

VfB Stuttgart came back from a goal down to win 5-1 and deal Swiss side Young Boys a sixth defeat in six Champions League games on Wednesday.

The last-placed visitors had taken the lead in the sixth minute when Lukasz Lakomy scored a long-range stunner but the hosts equalised in the 25th through Angelo Stiller.

Enzo Millot made it 2-1 in the 53rd with a shot from the centre of the box, with a long VAR check before the goal was given.

Germany midfielder Chris Fuhrich put the game out of reach with a third goal fired in right-footed from outside the box in the 61st and Josha Vagnoman made it 4-1 on the volley.

Second-half substitute Yannik Keitel scored his first goal for Stuttgart from outside the area in the 75th as the hosts made it 5-1.

Lille secured a 3-2 victory over visitors Sturm Graz in a Champions League thriller on Wednesday, with substitute Hakon Arnar Haraldsson scoring a late winner.Agencies

Also Read: Tough period but I’m pleased with the way we played: Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola

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