Manchester City keen on turnaround

Manchester: After late disappointment against Bayern Munich in their opening Champions League group game, Manchester City can ill afford another slip-up in Tuesday’s meeting with in-form Roma at the Etihad Stadium.

 

A 90th-minute goal by City old boy Jerome Boateng gave Bayern victory two weeks ago and with Roma opening their Group ‘E’ campaign by crushing CSKA Moscow 5-1, the English champions are already under a degree of pressure.

 

Having smashed Sheffield on Wednesday 7-0 in the League Cup before seeing off Hull City 4-2 on Saturday, Manuel Pellegrini’s side are scoring freely, but right-back Pablo Zabaleta knows Roma will be a different prospect.

 

Historically, Roma have not fared well against English clubs. They lost on penalties to Liverpool in their only European Cup final appearance in 1984 and have won only once on 14 previous visits to England.

 

Manchester was also the scene of one of their greatest humiliations a 7-1 demolition by City’s cross-town rivals Manchester United in the quarterfinals in 2007. But while City have never lost at home to an Italian club in four previous encounters, they will be rightly wary of a team who are currently jostling for supremacy with Juventus at the top of Serie ‘A’.

 

 

It’s all level in Group ‘G’ of the Champions League as the four clubs head into the second set of matches after 1-1 draws. Chelsea plays at Sporting Lisbon on Tuesday, with both clubs looking to take control of the group.

 

The London club had the lead over Schalke at Stamford Bridge but allowed Klaas-Jan Huntelaar to level the score, while Sporting surrendered its lead to an injury-time equalizer at Maribor.

 

Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho’s trip back to his native Portugal is set to provide the biggest thrills as he takes on a club where he was an assistant to Bobby Robson in the early 1990s. PSG Take on Barca, Ajax go to APOEL

 

 

Paris Saint-Germain has two problems ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League match against Barcelona, figuring out how to find its own form again and how to unlock an opposing defense that has yet to concede a goal this season.

 

Despite a glut of stars at its disposal, PSG has drawn six of the nine games it has played this season, including a 1-1 draw at Ajax. Barcelona led by its lethal attacking duo of Lionel Messi and Neymar, will be confident of picking up a second straight win to take control of Group ‘F’.

 

In the other match, Ajax faces a tough to trip to face Cypriot side APOEL Nicosia, which has a good home record. PSG desperately needs Zlatan Ibrahimovic to recover from a left heel injury.