Manchester City’s defeat to Juventus added to their recent slump and left their chances of Champions League progress hanging in the balance.
Here, the PA news agency looks at what it means for Pep Guardiola’s side.
Paris ‘six-pointer’
City lie 22nd in the new-look 36-team Champions League table with only eight points from their six games.
The first season of a new format means there is no precedent for the likely points totals required to advance, but City’s next match will make their prospects clear.
Guardiola takes his side to France to face Paris St Germain, currently one point behind City and one place outside the play-off spots.
Man City drop to 22nd in the final Champions League table of 2024 📉 pic.twitter.com/gDu6YCCkBu
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) December 11, 2024
With PSV Eindhoven and Stuttgart on eight and seven points respectively and facing winnable away games against Red Star Belgrade and Slovan Bratislava respectively, defeat would most likely leave City on the outside looking in.
They would then need to beat Club Brugge in their final game of the league phase and hope at least one of PSG, PSV, Stuttgart and Dinamo Zagreb drop points. Celtic and 15-time champions Real Madrid are a point ahead of City and could also yet be sucked into the battle.
While unknowns remain in the new league system, it has already thrown up the equivalent of a relegation six-pointer between clubs of City and PSG’s stature.
Defenceless
City’s defence has been a huge concern in a run of only one win, two draws and seven defeats in their last 10 games in all competitions – as many defeats as in 105 games prior to that.
– They have just one clean sheet in that run, in the 3-0 Premier League win over Nottingham Forest.
– They have conceded at least twice in each of the other nine games, including three against Feyenoord and four each to Sporting Lisbon and Tottenham.
– Since the start of November, a period covering nine of those 10 games, they have conceded 21 goals – more than any other team in Europe’s big five leagues in that time, according to data supplier Opta.
– Since Guardiola’s appointment, City have conceded only 424 goals in 496 games, an average of 0.85 goals per game. That has increased to 1.42 this season and 2.30 in the last 10 games.
– The ongoing absence of Ballon d’Or winner Rodri with an ACL injury is a factor in their slump. Since the midfielder’s arrival in 2019, City have conceded 0.83 goals per Premier League game with him in the team and 1.16 without, falling from 2.37 points per game to 1.74.
