Agüero out but City confident for Juventus

• Manuel Pellegrini refusing to set targets as Manchester City open against Juventus
• Sergio Agüero missing for City with knee injury suffered in weekend victory
• City have won all five of their league games this season without conceding
• Juve have picked up only one point from their opening three fixtures
• Massimiliano Allegri admits that his Juve team are in need of a morale boost

Possible lineups
Manchester City: Hart; Sagna, Mangala, Kompany, Kolarov; Yaya Touré, Fernandinho; De Bruyne, Silva, Sterling; Bony.
Out: Agüero (knee)
Doubtful: Fernandinho (unknown), Nasri (unknown)

Juventus: Buffon; Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini, Evra; Cuadrado, Pereyra, Hernanes, Pogba; Mandžukić, Dybala.
Out: Khedira (thigh), Marchisio (thigh)

Manuel Pellegrini, Manchester City manager
We are not thinking about where we can get to in the Champions League this year, we are just thinking about winning against Juventus tomorrow and trying to qualify. It is very important for the team to be successful not only domestically but in Europe, but we need to go step by step.

Juve training on Monday©AFP/Getty Images

Every team have a lot of injuries throughout the year because we play so many games. It is difficult with the amount of games and the intensity you have in the Premier League not to have injuries to players. So, in this case, I think we have a lot of problems with different players but I have 100% trust in the squad we choose.

Massimiliano Allegri, Juventus coach
City are among the favourites to win the Champions League this year. We will have to play with high intensity, be brave and very technical in our approach. We need to boost our self-belief a bit too, because at the moment that is perhaps lacking. All of a sudden you win a game and the team is much stronger than it was before.

We got to the Champions League final last season and the reason was that the players played a European style of football, a different type of football. If we just base ourselves on what happens in Italy, I don't think that's very helpful for Juventus.

Kelechi Iheanacho celebrates his winner on Saturday©Getty Images

Weekend results
Crystal Palace 0-1 Manchester City (Iheanacho 90)
City lost Agüero to an early injury but 18-year-old striker Kelechi Iheanacho emerged from the bench late on, his first Premier League goal maintaining City's 100% record without conceding.

Juventus 1-1 Chievo (Dybala 83pen; Hetemaj 5)
The Bianconeri have dropped eight points this season; it took them 15 games to do the same last term.

Form guide (all competitions, most recent first)*
Manchester City: WWWWW
Juventus: DLL

*This season only

Reporter's view: Simon Hart (@UEFAcomSimonH)
It will not help City to be without their top scorer last season, Sergio Agüero, but they won at Crystal Palace on Saturday after his early departure and with Raheem Sterling and David Silva back, they will fancy their chances against a Juve side who have made a slow start to the Serie A campaign. City look a much more focused team than last term and should be full of confidence given their club-record 11-game winning streak in the Premier League.

Did you know?
Which team ended the 2014/15 UEFA Champions League aspirations of both these sides? Find out in the match background.

©UEFA.com