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With Real Madrid through to the next round of the Champions League 2013/2014, it now remains to be seen which team joins the Spanish outfit in the last 16. Both Galatasaray and Juventus have a chance to finish second in Group B which initially seemed a straightforward one when the draws came out a few months back.
However, that has not been the case and following a few twists and turns, as things stand, the biggest match of tonight’s round of UCL match day 6 is Galatasaray vs Juventus. A win for the Turks will mean progression to the knockout phases while the Bianconeri need only a draw in order to secure qualification.
And onus is especially on Gala manager, Roberto Mancini for whom, going past the group stages of the competition has proven to be a hurdle too tough in recent times. The Italian’s sacking as the manager of Manchester City last May was largely due to his failure to make the English side a true European giant. Now at Galatasaray, the former Inter Milan manager has been given a great chance to set the record straight and prove it to his detractors that he is still as astute a manager as he was before he joined the Citizens.
Outfoxing the best tacticians in the Champions League can be quite a task for any manager but for Mancini, it has now become of utmost importance as he has to repair his credibility as a good tactician.
A win over the reigning Italian champions will see Gala go through to the second round of the competition for the second consecutive season. And with Andrea Pirlo set to miss the encounter in Turkey due to a knee injury, Mancini’s hopes would indeed be boosted.
However, things are not really going that well for the Italian at his new club. Succeeding popular figure Fatih Terim has proven to be a real fight. Two months in the job and Mancini has not won over his fans and things deteriorated further after his team had to go through the next round of the Turkish Cup via penalty shootouts against second division outfit Gaziantep.
Mancini has not won over fans with his abrasive style of management and listening to fans chanting their former manager’s name with gusto further complicates things for the Italian. Moreover, recent defeats at the hands of Copenhagen in the UCL and against rivals Fenerbahce will not quash the theory that the former Manchester City manager’s sojourn in Istanbul could be a short one.
Seeing last season’s top scorer Burak Yilmaz playing down the left wing has raised quite a few eyebrows while Sneijder‘s nonchalant form is also a matter of grave concern.
And tonight, things are really going to be tough for the home team’s manager with Carlos Tevez showing an extra spring in his heel. The Argentine’s relationship with Mancini during the duo’s time at Eastlands was more or less bitter and the striker may come back to haunt Mancini in Turkey.
With quite a few subplots already dominating the fixture, it is Mancini’s credibility as a Champions League coach that is the bigger picture and a statement that could define how the rest of his managerial career pans out to be.
