Manchester City cruised past Napoli, and when I say cruised past, I mean it. We didn’t even have to get out of the third gear, and we comfortably took home 3 points.
A Comfortable 2-0 victory at home. This is exactly the kind of start we wanted to our Champions League campaign. The players looked sharp, and the job was done without any unnecessary drama.
Three points in the bag, two goals scored, and another clean sheet to keep the momentum rolling.
Manchester City vs Napoli Post-match review
The first half started off slow, both teams took their time to settle in, and there was no real action until Di Lorenzo made that Tackle on Haaland, which resulted in him getting sent off. Which also meant that Kevin De Bruyne’s return was short-lived. I would’ve wanted to see a bit more of him, but I’m not going to complain, as he would’ve been a real threat considering how much we struggle to defend on the break.
But with the man advantage, it was all Manchester City for the remainder of the half. We kept creating attack after attack, and Napoli just wouldn’t budge. They kept sweeping everything out of the box. We kept knocking on the door, forcing a couple of good saves out of Vanja Milenkovic Savic, and it did look as if the Goal was coming anytime.
We began the second half right where we left it, and in the 56th Minute, Erling Haaland opened the scoring just as I predicted, scoring his 50th Goal in the UCL, and from here the game just became completely one-sided.
Erling Haaland scores his 50th Champions League goal 👏#UCL pic.twitter.com/4yehZLZbLY
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) September 18, 2025
Up until we opened the scoring, Napoli were defending very well, but after the goal, we took complete control, and then Jeremy Doku produced magic with his lightning-fast movement and sleek finishing, putting us 2 Goals and killing the game then and there. With a 2-goal cushion, we just professionally saw off the rest of the game, rotating the squad, making sure everyone stays fit.
The Biggest positive of this game will be that Foden, Doku, and Haaland all put on a very good performance, carrying their form from the derby. Also, the fact that we kept another clean sheet despite all the injuries at the back will give us a lot of confidence.
I do have to say that Napoli, up until the first goal, were very solid at the back; the game could have gone either way had it not been for Di Lorenzo’s early red card.
Having said that, it’s always great to start the campaign with a win, a comfortable win, and hopefully we can carry on this momentum to the next games.
