Manchester City hold on for massive win over Napoli despite conceding two penalties

The only regret during a first half of fantasy football was that Malcolm Allison did not live to see this.

During United’s long years of dominance, they would recall Manchester City’s one match in the European Cup. It was 1968 and Allison declared that his club would unleash themselves on the ‘cowards of Europe’. They lasted one tie, knocked out by Fenerbahce in the first round.

Almost half a century on and Manchester City have a side that, if they can expunge the defensive looseness that threatened to undermine them after the interval, will terrify Europe.

The summer talk in the city was of Jose Mourinho’s ‘second season syndrome’ and of what he might achieve at Old Trafford. Pep Guardiola’s second season has seen Liverpool routed 5-0, Stoke concede seven and the champions, Chelsea, outplayed at Stamford Bridge. Now, they overcame the leaders of Serie A and virtually qualified for the business phase of the Champions League after three games.

What would niggle at Guardiola as he reviewed this game was that a night that should have produced an emphatic victory might have slipped away had Napoli converted both their penalties. There was relief mixed in with the cheers at the final whistle.

Lawrie McMenemy once said of Allison that he attempted the kind of tactics that First Division managers would only discuss when their annual dinners had reached the whisky and cigars stage. He would have appreciated the way Manchester City slashed their way through the Napoli defence to the extent that by half hour mark they could easily have led by four.

To Napoli, two would have seemed plenty as Maurizio Sarri’s defence was turned and twisted and eventually broken. It was 12 months since they last conceded twice before the interval. Sarri, a habitual smoker, would many times have felt the need to reach for the comfort of the cigarette pack.

The first goal arrived before 10 minutes were up. It was Raheem Sterling’s eighth of the campaign. Last season it took Sterling until February to reach that mark. It was created by a sight Guardiola would have liked, his full-back in the opposition area. Kyle Walker’s shot was blocked but Sterling seized upon the rebound.

There is a theory that Kevin de Bruyne, like his Belgian team-mate, Romelu Lukaku does not perform in ‘big games’. As far as De Bruyne is concerned, it is flat-earth nonsense. He had excelled at Stamford Bridge and now, against a team his manager considers one of the best in Europe, he produced a perfect pass that flew between Kalidou Koulibaly’s legs and was clipped home by Gabriel Jesus for his fifth goal inside a week.

Then came a moment that was so relaxed it might have appeared on a training pitch. Leroy Sane languidly pulled the ball pack between two Napoli defenders and De Bruyne, carefully, coolly swung a boot that saw the ball crash against the underside of Reina’s crossbar and somehow not cross the line.

Goal-line technology demonstrated that Jesus’s shot, delivered after a gymnastic turn in the box, half saved by Reina and then blocked by Koulibaly had not gone over the line.

It appeared academic but Napoli demonstrated the kind of resilience against the odds for which their city has long been renowned. Had they scored both the penalties the referee, Antonio Lahoz, awarded they might have flown back to Naples with a point that would have seemed a wildly improbable return at the half-hour mark.

The first was awarded after Walker held Raul Albiol as the two men contested a cross. The task of converting the penalty fell to Dries Mertens, who had been Rafa Benitez’s first signing during his stint at the Stadio San Paolo. His shot lacked direction and power and Ederson saved with his legs. Fernandinho charged athletically at the rebound and scooped the ball clear with his leg at full stretch.

The Brazilian did, however, concede the second spot-kick, bringing down Faouzi Ghoulam as the Algerian skipped through Manchester City’s defence. This time, Mertens was not asked to take the penalty. Amadou Diawara demonstrated how it should be done.

In between, Napoli might have scored another as Mertens crossed low on the run for Napoli’s captain, Marek Hamsik, who needed one more to equal Diego Maradona’s goalscoring record for the club. But for a dramatic, sliding interception from John Stones this would have been it. Sarri and his players protested that the Yorkshireman had used his hand but the replay suggested it had been a perfect call.

Manchester City: (4-3-3) Ederson; Walker, Stones, Otamendi, Delph; De Bruyne, Fernandinho, D.Silva (Gundogan 76); Sterling (B.Silva 69), Jesus (Danilo 86), Sane. Substitutes: Bravo (g), Danilo, Aguero, Mangala,, Toure.

Napoli: Reina; Hysaj (Maggio 69), Albiol, Koulibaly, Ghoulam; Zielinski, Diawara, Hamsik; Callejon, Mertens, Insigne (Allan 56). Substitutes: Sepe (g), Jorginho, Maksimovic, Rog, Ounas.

Referee: Antonio Lahoz (Spain)