Nothing to be done for McTominay's Napoli as they are outclassed by Manchester City

 MANCHESTER – Napoli’s 2025/26 Champions League campaign didn’t get off to the start that they would have hoped for, as they suffered a 2-0 defeat away from home against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City. Scott McTominay also couldn't make his mark on the game in his return to Manchester (just the other stadium of it) as Napoli find themselves way off the pace of Pep's City.

 Kevin De Bruyne returned to the Etihad for the first time since his transfer away from Manchester, but even his talent wasn’t enough to repel a City team that has recently found a bit of a spark. He was warmly welcomed back by City fans, however was substituted in the first half after the red card to Di Lorenzo.

 Napoli’s captain, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, was sent off with a straight red card just 20 minutes in for a tackle on Haaland as the last man after the Norwegian had broken through Napoli’s defence. From then on it was all City. Conte’s men in managed only one shot in the entire game, and had only 26 percent possession, with Phil Foden and Jeremy Doku the stars of the show, and Haaland doing what he does best.

 Haaland opened the scoring after half time with his 50^th Champions League goal already in his youthful career in just 49 matches, before Doku bagged City’s second not even ten minutes later.

 Napoli unfortunately were unable to translate their excellent league form into European success, and Pep’s side were far too strong and relentless for the Azzurri. Neither McTominay or Billy Gilmour could do anything to change the narrative of the result, with the ball being played around them in midfield just far too quickly for them either Scot to get their hands on it and make something happen.

 Gilmour was subbed on later into the game, and another start for new signing Rasmus Hojlund unfortunately didn’t reap the same rewards as his last outing in the Serie A did.

 The Champions League campaign is a long road however, so Napoli fans shouldn’t feel too disheartened with Thursday’s result, and will hope to bounce back both domestically on the weekend and in the next round of matches that they play in Europe.

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