Juventus have moved to the top of Group D and qualified for the knockout phase of the Champions League with a game to spare following a 1-0 win over Manchester City in Turin on Wednesday.
Manuel Pellegrini’s side began brightly and Fernandinho went close with a fierce low drive in the fifth minute after Juventus could only clear a corner straight to the Brazilian midfielder.
Two minutes later, the hosts took the lead as Mario Mandzukic shrugged off a weak challenge from Nicolas Otamendi to volley home Alex Santos’s left-wing cross.
The Croatian striker almost doubled his tally in the 28th minute with a swivelling half-volley, but Joe Hart dived low to his left to keep out his effort.
Hart made a crucial save shortly before half time as he flung himself at the feet of Stephan Lichtsteiner, who had raided forward from right wing-back.
Then it was the turn of Buffon to perform heroics, as he rushed from his goal to deny Sergio Aguero, who couldn’t take advantage of a one-on-one chance after being presented the ball by Claudio Marchisio’s blind backpass.
City came close to levelling in the 53rd minute when Buffon pushed Fernando’s header onto the post before gathering the loose ball under pressure from Toure.
Chiellini flung himself infront of Aguero’s goalbound volley in the 67th minute and the game became more and more stretched as full time approached.
There was more worrying news for Man City in the latter stages as Hart limped off with an injury and they were unable to trouble Buffon in the final few minutes as Juventus jumped ahead of them at the top of the group.
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