And that’s all from me. Here’s tonight’s match report again. Bye!
Louise Taylor watched Marcus Rashford shine on his return to England:
Antonio Conte discusses Napoli’s night. Of the red card, he says that “honestly, I didn’t see the situation again”, but that “the game was ruined” as a result. “I don’t know if it was right, but the referee made his decision and we have to accept it”. He says withdrawing De Bruyne in the aftermath was “the only decision I could do. I had only this option”, and insists that “we can do well in the Champions League”.
I think that already it’s difficult to play 11 against 11. After 20 minutes it was impossible. I think that also with 10 men, defensively we were really good. The two goals I think we can do much better. But I don’t have anything to tell to my players, because the commitment was good. I think if it had continued 11 against 11 we could see another game in my opinion, but you’re talking about Manchester City, a fantastic team. I come back to Italy with the mentality of the team, because I liked the way they suffered, suffered together.
Jamie Jackson has filed his match report from the Etihad, and here it is:
Pep Guardiola said of drawing Napoli and having Kevin De Bruyne return: “It was always going to happen, right?”
But he might have spoken of his No 9’s ruthlessness, as Erling Haaland broke this game open with Champions League goal No 50 in a record 49 matches, a feat that handsomely beats Ruud van Nistelrooy’s previous 62-appearance mark.
Thursday night’s strike was a seventh in five for Manchester City – form as ominous as the Norwegian’s in the immortal 2022-3 treble season.
Much more here:
Haaland’s goal was his 50th in the Champions League, scored in his 49th game. He thus breaks Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record for being the fastest to that mark – the Dutchman took 62 games, with Lionel Messi third on the list having taken 66. Absolute rubbish, he was.
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The fans sing for Kevin de Bruyne, while Phil Foden has a chat:
Perfect start, against a very tough opponent. They’re a nightmare team to break down, the structure, how they keep so deep. They give you minimal space. Overall a solid performance. First half was a bit frustrating, I wasn’t getting many touches in between the lines but I knew second half there’d be one or two chances where I could maybe turn on the ball. Erling’s always going to make that run, it’s just about making that connection.
Final score: Manchester City 2-0 Napoli
90+3 mins: The ball goes out for a Napoli goal kick, at which the referee strolls over to Milinković-Savić, demands the ball from him, and then blows for full time. City bank the win!
90+1 mins: There’ll be a couple of additional minutes at the referee’s discretion.
88 mins: The stands look fairly empty now. City have scored two excellent goals, but it has not been a night of great drama.
85 mins: The game is being played entirely in Napoli’s half, and mostly within 10 yards of their penalty area.
84 mins: Sporting, meanwhile, had scored two goals in two minutes when I last updated, but then went and scored a third in three. They lead Kairat 4-0.
82 mins: Eintracht Frankfurt now lead Galatasaray 5-1, with Ansgar Knauff the latest to get on the scoresheet. And to think the Turks led for nearly half an hour. They could do with a bit of, um, Ansgar management.
79 mins: Even more substitutions! Nathan Ake, Rico Lewis and Oscar Bobb come on, with Reijnders, Gvardiol and Haaland departing.
78 mins: City keep the ball for a while before it’s finally worked back to Savinho, who takes on Spinazzola and goes down very easily, leaving the referee unimpressed.
75 mins: The substitutions suggest that both teams are content now to settle for this result, and so does the action.
72 mins: More substitutional action, as David Neres, Billy Gilmour and Eljif Elmas come on for Napoli, while Anguissa, Hojlund and Lobotka go off.
69 mins: City bring Savinho on for Doku.
69 mins: There are several goals to report in tonight’s other games: Sporting have scored two in a minute to lead Kairat 3-0, and Marcus Rashford has scored twice to put Barcelona in control at Newcastle.
GOAL! Manchester City 2-0 Napoli (Doku, 66 mins)
That might help! This time it’s not Doku finding someone else on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box, it’s someone else finding him. To be more accurate, he’s found outside the area and takes himself to the six-yard box, squaring up Beukema and feinting past him, before sliding a low shot under Milinković-Savić.
Updated
66 mins: Unless the broadcasters have turned down their microphones, Napoli’s fans have got a little quieter since the goal, and City’s not much louder, so the ground feels, from several hundred miles away, a little flat.
64 mins: Donnarumma does his first thing for a while, catching a misdirected cross from the right.
62 mins: Anguissa goes down, after feeling some extremely minimal contact between his head and a City player. The game is stopped, which annoys the crowd, but not for long.
60 mins: City make their first change, replacing Rodri with Nico Gonzalez.
58 mins: That’s a beautifully created and wonderfully taken goal. The dinked pass left Haaland only one available finish, but he was lightning fast to size up the situation and produced the perfect header to guide the ball out of the keeper’s reach. Just superbly done.
GOAL! Manchester City 1-0 Napoli (Haaland, 56 mins)
The breakthrough! Foden chips the ball up and into the area, and Haaland dabs a header over Milinković-Savić and into the corner of the net!
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55 mins: It’s Politano who goes off, Conte deciding he can’t be having a man on a booking at the heart of defence. Jesus becomes the third Napoli captain of the night.
54 mins: Napoli are going to bring on another defender. You can never have too many. Juan Jesus is getting ready to come on.
52 mins: Napolie’s replacement captain, Matteo Politano, earns a booking for pulling back Doku.
50 mins: And another chance! Again the ball is worked down the left and infield from there, Doku passing this time to Foden, who from a very similar spot to Reijnders a minute earlier does opt to shoot, but misses the far post.
49 mins: They have now, if only with a few panicked clearances. Reijnders has half a chance from the left corner of the six-yard box but he tries to pass to Haaland, and hits a defender.
48 mins: Since Anguissa laid the ball back to Milinković-Savić from kick-off I’m not sure Napoli have touched it.
46 mins: Peeeeeep! The away team start the second half.
The players are back out, with no further halftimely substitutions.
Manchester City had 16 shots on goal in the first half. Napoli had one.
Elsewhere in the Champions League tonight:
Club Brugge 4-1 Monaco (FT)
Copenhagen 2-2 Bayer Leverkusen (FT)
Eintracht Frankfurt 3-1 Galatasaray
Newcastle United 0-0 Barcelona
Sporting 1-0 Kairat
“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!
Updated
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.
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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.
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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.
Updated
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!
Updated
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.
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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:
