Manchester City can all but make sure of a place in the knockout stages of the Europa League by winning at home to Red Bull Salzburg on Wednesday evening.
The Citizens are hopeful of qualifying for next season’s Champions League and Roberto Mancini’s men are much fancied to enjoy European success this season.
City started their campaign with a 3-0 aggregate success over Romanians FC Timisoara in the play-off round, ensuring a place in the group stages.
The draw left them paired with Salzburg, Lech Poznan and Italian giants Juventus and, with the top two going through to the last 32, City fancied their chances of making progress.
Can Manchester City taste glory in the Europa League? – Latest Football Betting
They opened their Group A challenge with a 2-0 victory in Austria, with David Silva and Jo on target, before an Adam Johnson equaliser secured a 1-1 home draw with Juve.
When an Emmanuel Adebayor hat-trick eased the Citizens to a 3-1 triumph over Poznan at the City of Manchester Stadium, a place in the knockout stages seemed a certainty, but there was to be a twist back in Poland.
There City were beaten 3-1, with Adebayor making it four goals in two games against the Poles.
Next up is the arrival of Salzburg in Manchester but, with an away trip to Juventus ending the group stage, City cannot afford another slip-up.
Former Arsenal striker Adebayor will undoubtedly be keen to impress in Europe once again, having been only a bit-part player during the Premier League campaign to date.
He continues to be linked with a move away from City to join Juventus, so he has added incentive to shine on the European stage.
Adebayor has been warned by Mancini to focus on the job in hand, with the Italian saying: “It is important for all the players to think about their job. When they play, they must play well. Then we can see.
“The situation could change in January, but no player is happy when they don’t play. We have a lot of games to play in a short space of time and all the players are going to be playing this month.”
While City and Salzburg go head-to-head at Eastlands, the other game in Group A sees Juve travel to Poland to take on Lech Poznan, with the two sides having played out a thrilling 3-3 draw in Turin earlier on in the competition.
