Comments and predictions for Man City vs Napoli: De Bruyne is out of luck
The match between Man City vs Napoli in the Champions League takes place at 2:00 a.m. on September 19. Nghe An Newspaper analyzes performance, makes football comments and predicts the score.
Latest Man City vs Napoli squad information
Man City will be without four players through injury: Omar Marmoush (knee), Rayan Cherki (unknown), Rayan Ait-Nouri (ankle) and Mateo Kovacic (Achilles). John Stones is also unavailable due to a muscle problem.
Guardiola can rotate his squad, with the likes of Rico Lewis, Nathan Ake, Nico Gonzalez, Oscar Bobb and Savinho all available for recall after being benched for the derby. Haaland is certain to start. He has scored 49 goals in just 48 Champions League games and is on course to become the fastest player to reach 50 goals in the competition (currently held by Ruud van Nistelrooy in 62 games). At the same time, Haaland could overtake Thierry Henry's record in the competition.
For Napoli, all eyes are on Kevin De Bruyne, who will surely receive a warm welcome from fans at Etihad after 10 years with Man City, winning 19 titles, including the 2023 Champions League.
However, Romelu Lukaku remains a long-term absentee with a knee injury and has been left out of the Champions League squad, along with Luca Marianucci and Pasquale Mazzocchi. Amir Rrahmani (hamstring), Nikita Contini (broken arm) and Alex Meret (muscle) are also ruled out.
Hojlund will compete for a starting spot with 2m03 striker Lorenzo Lucca, while Scott McTominay – Serie A Player of the Year last season and former Manchester United midfielder – is likely to be given a start by Conte. Billy Gilmour, a former Brighton player, could be benched.
Latest expected lineup for Man City vs Napoli
Manchester City:
Donnarumma; Lewis, Dias, Gvardiol, Ake; Rodri, Gonzalez; Savinho, Foden, Doku; Haaland
Napoli:
Milinkovic-Savic; Di Lorenzo, Beukema, Buongiorno, Spinazzola; Lobotka; Politano, Anguissa, De Bruyne, McTominay; Hojlund
Latest Man City vs Napoli football review
After two consecutive defeats to Tottenham and Brighton before the international break, Man City bounced back strongly with a 3-0 win in the Manchester derby in the Premier League, thereby rekindling the spirit after a not-so-smooth start.
On an emotional day as the club and fans paid tribute to the late Manchester boxing legend – and Man City fan – Ricky Hatton, Phil Foden opened the scoring in the first half, before Erling Haaland scored twice after the break to help “The Citizens” claim all three points and pride.
Manager Pep Guardiola hopes the derby victory will be a turning point for his team to regain their form. Although preparing for an important trip to Arsenal at the weekend, Man City must first focus on their 15th consecutive Champions League season.
The 2023 champions will be keen to start on the right foot, avoiding a repeat of last season when they finished 22nd out of 36 in the group stage (W3 D2 L3) and were eliminated by Real Madrid in the play-offs. In fact, Man City have lost four of their last five Champions League games, but they are unbeaten in their last 21 group stage/League Phase games at the Etihad (W18 D3), and have won five of their last six opening games in the competition – promising stats for the upcoming match against Napoli.
Napoli are off to a flying start under Antonio Conte. After winning their second Serie A title in three seasons (2024/25), they have won all three opening games of the new season against Cagliari, Sassuolo and Fiorentina.
Rasmus Hojlund – fresh from Man United – scored on his debut in a 3-1 win over Fiorentina. Kevin De Bruyne, also a new signing from Man City, scored from the penalty spot in the 6th minute.
Although satisfied with the team's attacking strength, Conte still warned his players not to be complacent and to stay focused until the last minute, after Fiorentina managed to score a consolation goal in the last 10 minutes of the match.
Napoli will be Conte’s fifth club in the Champions League (after Juventus, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Tottenham). This will be the southern Italian side’s ninth season in the competition, having missed out last season – their first since 2009/10.
Napoli’s recent group stage/League Phase form has been impressive: 11 wins, 4 draws and just 3 losses in 18 games. However, they have never won away to an English side in European competition (D3 L9), having lost to almost everyone from Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool to Man City themselves. The only exception was a draw with Leicester City in the 2021/22 season.
Latest Man City vs Napoli score prediction
Based on the above football comments, we and the world's leading football sites have given the results of the match.Man City vs Napolias follows:
- Sportsmole:Man City 2-1 Napoli
- WhoScore:Man City 2-0 Napoli
- Our newspaper predicts:Man City 2-1 Napoli
When and where to watch Man City vs Napoli live?
To watch the live match Man City vs Napoli in the Champions League taking place at 2:00 a.m. on September 19, viewers can watch onK+ Sport,K+PMor online sports channels. Wish you have fun watching football.
