Manuel Pellegrini insists Manchester City will “get back to normal” against Juventus after a 4-1 defeat to Liverpool.
It kicks off on Wednesday at 19.45 GMT in Turin and the Bianconeri already beat City 2-1 in England.
“I think it’s very important to qualify for the third time in the row. We qualified the last two years and were very unlucky to have the same draw with Barcelona,” said the manager in a Press conference.
Manuel Pellegrini insists Manchester City will “get back to normal” against Juventus after a 4-1 defeat to Liverpool.
It kicks off on Wednesday at 19.45 GMT in Turin and the Bianconeri already beat City 2-1 in England.
“I think it’s very important to qualify for the third time in the row. We qualified the last two years and were very unlucky to have the same draw with Barcelona,” said the manager in a Press conference.
“It is not just important to avoid Barcelona or another important team, but as it’s an important test for us to win in a big stadium here in Turin and win the group.
“We finished a very bad game on Saturday and it was all over Sunday morning. It’s a different competition and we were very unlucky losing the first game in our stadium, so I hope tomorrow we’ll return to our normal performance.
“It was a strange game that we played, but that’s in the past and it is more important to think about the future. I think all managers want to find the weakest point of the other teams, but I don’t think you can take Saturday’s game as a normal performance.
“We already played Juventus, they won a close game and I didn’t think we deserved to lose. Now we must try to at least not lose tomorrow and qualify for the next stage. We know all of them and the way they play.
“Juventus have a very strong side, that’s why they won four straight titles and reached last year’s Champions League Final.”
Bacary Sagna said he wasn’t ready to play against Liverpool following the attacks in Paris.
“That was a difficult week for a lot of different players. Maybe also you can add he played two games in the same week and didn’t recover for an important game against Liverpool. At that moment I asked him and he was able to play.”
“It’s a difficult situation, as we have so many players injured like Zabaleta, Kompany, Mangala, Silva and Bony. We need to play in Europe the same way we did against Sevilla. Before reaching the quarter-final, we have to win in the Round of 16. Just because we win the group doesn’t mean we have an easier draw.
“We have more experience than in other years, but for me the most important thing in every game is the individual performance.
“Without doubt this is a better team with Sergio Aguero, so to reach an important stage of any competition of course we need Sergio and it’s better for us.”