Man City let down by finishing against Juventus, says Niall Quinn

Niall Quinn blamed Manchester City's poor finishing for their failure to get a result against Juventus in Turin.

Mario Mandzukic's first-half strike was enough to hand Juventus a 1-0 victory but City, who have already qualified, wasted a number of chances as the Italian side moved two points clear at the top of Group D with just one game remaining.

Both Fernadinho and substitute Raheem Sterling were guilty of wasting superb chances at Juventus Stadium and with City now likely to finish second in the group, Quinn believes Manuel Pellegrini's side could pay the price for those missed opportunities when the draw for the last 16 comes around.

"If he [Pellegrini] loses sleep tonight it's not because they think they'll probably finish second in the group now, I think it's more that his team had three or four gilt-edged chances," Quinn told Soccer Special.

"Fernandinho missed a sitter as well in the first half. Fernando misses a header, Aguero was played in on a back-pass and couldn't finish so it's not ideal of course but a lot better than the weekend [a 4-1 defeat against Liverpool] that's for sure.

"They took the game to Juventus, they suffered in parts in the first half, but they got to grips with that eventually and Manchester City can count themselves a little bit unfortunate to lose the game.

"That said, unfortunate that their finishing was so poor".

Despite defeat, Quinn thought there were plenty of positives for Pellegrini's side, especially after their thrashing at the hands of Liverpool.

The former City striker also praised the performance of forward Kevin De Bruyne.

If he [Pellegrini] loses sleep tonight it's not because they think they'll probably finish second in the group now I think it's more that his team had three or four guilt-edged chances.

"The application was a lot better than the weekend against Liverpool, there's no doubt about that," Quinn added.

"Nicolas Otamendi's defending for the goal is hopeless. He goes down way too easy and Mandzukic has a tap-in for what should have been a cross that was defended properly, but Pellegrini will take comfort from the chances that he created.

"They didn't just accept their fate, either; they went looking for the equaliser for the rest of the game. Wasteful finishing in the end cost them.

"They didn't create a whole pile of chances but when they did De Bruyne was excellent.

"The chance of the game comes [after a pass] across the six-yard box [by De Bruyne] for the tap-in, and I mean a tap-in, for Raheem Sterling. That's the one Manuel Pellegrini will look at and say that's the moment that got the game away from them.

"They showed good application, they worked hard. There was a desire amongst the team to get back in the game and Juventus were rattled at times."