Europa League HT Report: Manchester
City and Juventus level after eventful first half
Manchester City and Juventus headed into the locker rooms on level terms, after a fiercely contested first half. The home side, Manchester City, went behind first but the ever improving Adam Johnson levelled it up before the break.
Manchester City made four changes from Saturday's victory over Chelsea as Jerome Boateng got his first start for the club in place of Dedryck Boyata; Patrick Vieira came in for Nigel de Jong to face his former side; Adam Johnson
replaced James Milner and Emmanuel Adebayor was preferred to David Silva. Juventus opted for five alterations following Sunday's win against Cagliari, with Alessandro Del Piero returning to captain the side and former Arsenal goalkeeper Alex Manninger replacing
Marco Storari between the posts.
On the pitch, it was Jerome Boateng who made his first start for Manchester City tonight and had an early effort after cutting inside from the right. The less said about it the better, though. It troubled the corner flag more than
the goal.
However it was followed by a nice spell of keep-ball by Manchester City which ended with a loose pass by Gareth Barry. Mohamed Sissoko broke forward and fed Vincenzo Iaquinta, who tested Joe Hart with a low shot at his near post.
Soon it was Juve's turn to knock it around, and they were enjoying a lot more possession in the first 15 minutes.
Moments later Joe Hart was called into action again. It was a long-range Alessandro Del Piero free-kick that zipped off the Eastlands turf and the Manchester City keeper had to push it away.
Juventus continued to dominate and finally got a deserved lead, albeit fortuitously. Vincenzo Iaquinta let fly from about 30 yards out on the left and, after taking a nick off Kolo Toure's head, it flew past Joe Hart and into the
bottom corner. It was a wake-up call for Manchester City who had been pushed back a lot.
The goal seemed to have woken up the Citizens. Adam Johnson hoisted a couple of corners into the box and Alex Manninger found himself a very lucky man. He was struggling to collect the ball because of one of his own team-mates
but the Spanish referee ruled that the home side had committed a foul.
Pablo Zabaleta was in the thick of things. First, he was fortunate not to concede a penalty when he caught Milos Krasic in his own area, then, at the other end, the Manchester City full-back had the pleasure of having Giorgio Chiellini's
knee smacked full into his face as they slid for a loose ball.
There was then another sniff for City. Carlos Tevez cut in from the left and took aim, but his shot flashed well wide of Alex Manninger's far post.
Again, City had a pop but it was nothing much to write home about. Patrick Vieira let fly from the left-hand side of the area but he dragged his effort well wide of the opposite post. Juventus were sitting back a bit, but they
were not exactly under much pressure.
The match was starting to gather pace and Milos Krasic got caught by Pablo Zabaleta. Juve had a free-kick about 30 yards out. Alessandro Del Piero chipped in a cross instead and it was easily cleared.
Following the kick from the keeper, at last City got behind Juve's defence. They should have been level, and they very nearly were. First, Gareth Barry's flicked header hit the post, and then the rebound eluded Emmanuel Adebayor,
before Adam Johnson's snap-shot was saved.
City finally turned on the style and levelled with a superbly worked goal. Yaya Toure spotted Adam Johnson's incisive run and found him with a slipped pass. Johnson was clean through and beat Alex Manninger with a cool finish.
It was all-square at Eastlands when the referee blew his whistle, signaling half time.
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