Key events
“42 minutes played, and not one mention of Højlund!” writes Danicus. “Has he been that anonymous?” He’s very much been present, but this is not turning out to be a particularly rewarding night to be a Napoli centre-forward.
Half time score: Manchester City 0-0 Napoli (goals); Manchester City 11-10 Napoli (players)
45+5 mins: Peeeeeep! Half of the time has been played, and none of the goals have been scored.
45+2 mins: Politano is punching the air in celebration, it’s almost as if he scored a goal! In fact he’s celebrating because he didn’t – Bernardo Silva slides an excellent pass from the right into the feet of Reijnders in the middle, and his low shot could well have been going in before Politano stuck a foot out, and was definitely going in afterwards, but Milinković-Savić reacts smartly to keep it out!
45+1 mins: There’ll be four minutes of stoppage time, or something like it.
45 mins: City haven’t created any clear chances from open play, but they’re creating a lot of slightly murky ones. Silva crosses again, and Reijnders’ attempted back-flick-header clears the bar.
42 mins: Another corner, another header, and another excellent save! This time it’s Gvardiol who’s denied.
40 mins: A desperate clearance stops Reijnders breaking through, at the expense of another corner. From which (eventually) O’Reilly heads a Bernardo Silva cross at goal, and Milinković-Savić saves.
38 mins: Save! Bernardo Silva’s cross is headed clear, but Rodri volleys it right back towards goal from the edge of the area. Milinković-Savić pushes it away and out towards Doku, who’s offside.
36 mins: Ruben Dias crosses towards Haaland, who throws himself at it but can’t conjure a volley. Napoli, by sitting deep and in numbers, have set City a puzzle here, but it’s one they’ve solved many times before.
33 mins: Napoli boot the ball down the right and Politano takes it down brilliantly and manages to convert it into a corner, the ball bouncing behind off O’Reilly – and one of Politano’s boots landing on his thigh also, studs down but with no suggestion of malice.
33 mins: Napoli’s fans are impressively loud and also bouncy, given the circumstances.
31 mins: Foden slightly scuffs a left-foot shot from 20 yards, and Milinković-Savić snaffles it gratefully.
29 mins: There was a good, long and loud chorus of Oh, Kevin de Bruyne as the Belgian left the pitch, but this is not the night he would have been dreaming of. Napoli settle back for a long night of defending.
26 mins: Napoli decide to bring on a defender, and Mathias Olivera is their man. And it’ll be no happy returns for Kevin de Bruyne, who is the one to make way.
25 mins: Nothing comes of that corner, but a couple of minutes later Reijnders sends in a hard, dipping cross from the left from which Haaland heads over.
23 mins: From the eventual free-kick Reijnders hits Lobotka with a shot, which deflects out for a corner.
RED CARD! Napoli lose their captain!
21 mins: A quick check by Felix Zwayer, and out comes the crimson card!
20 mins: The referee is called over to the replay screens. If Di Lorenzo didn’t get the ball it’s a foul, it’s obvious denial of a goalscoring opportunity, and it’s curtains for Napoli’s captain.
19 mins: Red card shout! Haaland is played through by Foden, Di Lorenzo misjudges it, rejudges it and slides in for it, and the referee thinks he gets the ball! But he doesn’t, and this might be bad news for Napoli!
17 mins: Save! The corner is curled in, Beukema wins the header at the far post, but Donnarumma gets his body behind it and keeps it out.
16 mins: Down the other end, where Politano tries to get down the right wing and hits O’Reilly with his cross. Another corner.
15 mins: Doku runs down the left, but Napoli have 10 players in the penalty area (if you count the keeper) and he can’t beat the first of them. Still, a corner.
12 mins: Fine work from Spinazzola on Napoli’s left, but good work also from Khusanov, who is turned a couple of times but never lets his opponent get away, and no shot results.
10 mins: Chance! Foden sends the corner just beyond the far post, where Doku is entirely unmarked. He doesn’t fancy a header, though, so he chests it down and gives it away.
9 mins: Another shot! This time it’s Reijnders with it, from out on the left-hand corner of the penalty area. It’s too close to the keeper, but it’s also vicious, and it’s all he can do to turn it over the bar.
6 mins: City break, Doku runs down the middle, Politano eventually dispossesses him on the edge of the area but in doing so accidentally passes to Foden, who’s just mulling over which corner he should aim his shot at when the referee blows his whistle for a foul on Politano.
4 mins: A shot! The bad news is that Ruben Dias took it, and he was at least 30 yards out. It is fair to say that Vanja Milinković-Savić was untroubled.
3 mins: Napoli have, in a very vague and harmless way, dominated the first couple of minutes.
1 min: Peeeeeeep! City get the game started!
The coin is tossed by the referee, introduced on TNT Sports as “German Felix Zwayer from Germany”. City’s players huddle. Kick-off next.
Out come the players! Football is imminent. A couple of today’s Champions League games have just finished, meanwhile, and they ended:
Club Brugge 4-1 Monaco
Copenhagen 2-2 Bayer Leverkusen (with three of the four goals in the last 10 minutes, and Bayer scoring an injury-time own-goal equaliser)
Pep Guardiola has a slightly awkward TV interview, most of which he spends telling the interviewer that they’re wrong, or that he’s not thinking about that right now. To start with, he’s asked why he’s picked an unchanged team:
My decision. It’s easy to understand. No [it’s not because we were so amazing on Sunday], in the beginning of the season with a lot of changes in the squad I’m trying to give a bit of consistency in the line-up, that’s all.
I’d very much like to bring you photographs of a variety of players during the warm-ups, but all the ones we’ve been sent are of the same bloke.
The teams!
The lineups are here, and they look like this. City are unchanged from Sunday’s win over Manchester United:
Manchester City: Donnarumma, Khusanov, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly, Rodri, Silva, Reijnders, Foden, Doku, Haaland. Subs: Trafford, Ake, Bettinelli, Gonzalez, Savio, Matheus Luiz, Bobb, Mukasa, Lewis, Mfuni.
Napoli: Milinkovic-Savic, Politano, Beukema, Buongiorno, Spinazzola, Lobotka, Di Lorenzo, Anguissa, De Bruyne, McTominay, Hojlund. Subs: Meret, Ferrante, Gutierrez, Juan Jesus, Gilmour, Neres, Olivera, Elmas, Vergara, Lucca, Ambrosino, Lang.
Referee: Felix Zwayer (Germany).
VAR: Christian Dingert (Germany).
Hello world!
He’s back! Kevin de Bruyne returns to Manchester, having only just left, this time plotting City’s downfall. “I’ve spoken to Kevin, I’ve asked him a few things,” said Antonio Conte, the Napoli coach. Well, it would probably be awkward if he hadn’t, but sure. De Bruyne, inevitably, has settled beautifully in Italy, and has already scored twice in three league games this season (a free kick and a penalty).
“He’s been a part of this club for 10 years and had a great coach like Pep Guardiola,” Conte continued of the Belgian. “Kevin will be excited to be playing but I’m hoping that after the starting whistle he will find his feet and remember he’s playing for our great Napoli.” Well, it would certainly be awkward if he didn’t, but sure.
Also returning to Manchester are Scott McTominay, who scored 12 league goals last season as Napoli powered to the Serie A title after moving from United, and Rasmus Hojland, who has made one appearance since leaving Old Trafford on loan and scored 14 minutes into it. All of which adds some intrigue to a game whose winner should, given the two sides’ quality and their remaining group-stage fixtures, be set fair to progress without great ado into the knockouty bit.
Some pre-match reading for you: Jamie Jackson heard recent City recruit Gianluigi Donnarumma do some chatting yesterday, and this is what he wrote about it:
Gianluigi Donnarumma has said he believes Pep Guardiola will help improve his ball-playing skills and that Manchester City were interested in signing him before the summer.
Donnarumma joined from Paris Saint-Germain for about £30m (€35m) on transfer deadline day. The move caused surprise because of the view that the 26-year-old is not as accomplished with his feet as Ederson, who left for Fenerbahce, or James Trafford, the £27m signing from Burnley in July.
The Italian was asked if criticism of his ball-playing skills was fair. “I always try to improve and I am with a coach who is the best in these situations – he will help me.”
Much more here:
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