Man City are one of the Champions League favourites - Allegri

Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri believes Manchester City are one of the favourites to win the Champions League this season.

Allegri led the Serie A champions to the final of the competition in 2014-15, and feels City have as good a chance as anyone of picking up the silverware this time around.

City have begun the campaign in fine form, having won all five of their opening Premier League matches, which is in stark comparison to Juve, with the Italian outfit picking up one point from three matches in Serie A.

And Allegri has called on his players to raise their performance levels if they are to beat Manuel Pellegrini's side in their Group D opener.

"Manchester City are one of the Champions League favourites," he told reporters. "Tomorrow will be the first of six group matches and our aim is to get through.

"We'll need to put in an intense performance, show plenty of courage and also play at a high technical level.

"The team's given everything in the first three games, we've lacked goals and also been a little unlucky."

Juve captain Gianluigi Buffon has agreed with his manager regarding City being one of the best sides in the competition, and has hailed their attacking talent.

City signed both Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne over the summer to further bolster their forward line, and Buffon feels that their offensive players are some of the best on the continent.

"For me it will be my first time playing in this stadium, against City who are one of the candidates to win the Champions League," he said.

"It will be nice to start with such a big test. City have seven or eight of the best attacking players in Europe."