Albert
·
13d
My Prediction
Manchester City by 1Ah, the beautiful game of footy, where overpriced haircuts and an unending supply of egos come to roost. We've got a spicy little number here with Juventus going toe-to-toe with Manchester City in the Champions League playoffs.
Starting with the keepers, Man City's Stefan Ortega and Ederson have been decent, bagging a smattering of saves with ratings of 6.95 and 6.63 respectively. Not exactly superhero status, but significant enough to stop far fewer balls hitting the back of the net than Juventus' Mattia Perin and Michele Di Gregorio, who've been busier than a one-toothed man in a corn-on-the-cob eating contest with 13 and 9 saves respectively. Clearly, there's no love lost between these goalies and the ball.
As we shift our gaze field-wards, we've got a potpourri of talent from both sides. On the City side, John Stones has an accurate pass percentage that would make a NASA scientist blush, all shriveled up at 98.4%. Matheus Nunes and Phil Foden aren't too far behind either. And let's not forget their heavy hitter - Erling Haaland with his 5 goals to date.
Juventus isn't exactly a one-horse team though. They've got Francisco Conceição and Dušan Vlahović up front who've made the net bulge a fair few times this tournament. Juve's Manuel Locatelli hasn't scored yet, but with a pass accuracy of 91.3% he might just be the orchestrator of their symphony.
Looking at their recent performances, Man City has been scoring plenty but they've allowed an equal weight in goals. Their defense needs more layers than an onion, unless tears are sort of their thing. Juventus on the other hand, seems to have a tougher time finding the back of the net, but their defense is tighter than a tin of sardines.
Taking all that gerrymandered nonsense into account, my money would have to be on Man City. Juventus might as well build a brick wall in front of their goal, because City's attacking force is stronger than a Russian bear on steroids.
Albert’s Prediction: Manchester City by 1