Napoli 2-1 Manchester City: Big spenders all but out of Champions League
Published 21:48 22/11/11 By David Anderson
They were supposed to be the team who could win the Champions League at the first time of asking, the billionaires’ plaything that could cast the best of Europe aside.
But on a rainswept night in an unfashionable part of the football continent, Edinson Cavani dealt a sickening double blow to Manchester City’s dream of European domination.
Cavani struck in each half to leave Roberto Mancini’s side licking their wounds - and needing help on the final night of the group stages if they are even to make it to the knockout stages never mind next May’s Munich final.
And worse still, this could also put a dent in City’s Premier League aspirations, with the dreaded Thursday-Sunday routine of the Europa League awaiting his high-priced stars if they finish in the third place they were forced to occupy following this unsavoury night in Naples.
City must hope against hope that whipping boys Villarreal can somehow prevent Napoli winning and that they can beat Bayern Munich.
The consequences if they don’t are unthinkable for Mancini and he will be back on the treadmill of the Europa League come February.
The City boss is rightly concerned about the impact of playing Thursdays and Sundays will have on his side’s title chances after their impressive start to the season.
This could be the break Sir Alex Ferguson was hoping for in the title race as Manchester United attempt to overhaul City’s five-point lead.
He will also be encouraged by how ordinary City have looked in Europe and one again they failed to transform their dazzling domestic form into Europe.
They were pedestrian against Napoli and did not do enough to deserve victory.
Edin Dzeko was back to his worst and once again did not deliver on the big occasion, while Mancini’s decision to leave Sergio Aguero on the bench until the dying minutes and omit Micah Richards completely will also be questioned.
City were hit with a proper hostile European atmosphere last night and they walked out into the decaying concrete cauldron that is the Stadio San Paolo to be greeted by fireworks and flares and a wall of noise.
Yaya Toure blazed over in their first attempt on Morgan De Sanctis’ goal before Mario Balotelli went close on his first return to his homeland with City.
Aleksandar Kolarov, who rescued City with his free-kick when the sides met at the Etihad, cut inside from the left and fed Balotelli, who burst forward before hitting a left-foot shot just past De Sanctis’ far post.
Napoli were a danger with their potent attacking threat and Marek Hamsik, whose wife had been carjacked earlier in the day, headed into Joe Hart’s arms before Ezequiel Lavezzi played a one-two with Cavani and drilled a shot narrowly wide.
Cavani clearly enjoys playing against City and on 17 minutes he opened the scoring, just like he did at the Etihad.
Hart touched Gokhan Inler’s shot over and from Lavezzi’s corner, Cavani, whose nickname is the Matador, glanced the ball home at the near post off Kolarov’s foot.
The Napoli fans jeered each City attack and on 33 minutes they fell silent when man-of-the-moment Balotelli scored.
Salvatore Aronica gave the ball away to Silva and De Sanctis could only parry his shot from the left to the feet of Balotelli, who tapped home the simplest of goals into the unguarded net to make it nine in his last 10 games.
Now it was the turn of the City fans, sat up above one of the corner flags, to make a racket and Silva fed the overlapping Kolarov on the left and De Sanctis blocked the City defender’s shot with his legs.
They fell silent four minutes into the second half when Napoli pounced on a mistake by Nigel De Jong to retake the lead.
De Jong gave away possession and Napoli raided down the left with former Liverpool man Andrea Dossena pulling the ball back for Cavani to rifle home his second past Hart.
City tried to lay siege to the home goal, but ran the risk of leaving the back door open for Napoli who were lethal on the break.
The Serie A side, unbeaten at home in Europe for 17 years, launched one such counter down the left and Hart did well to block Lavezzi’s shot with his legs before Hamsik fired against the post with Hart beaten.
Balotelli thought he had pulled City level only for De Sanctis to block his shot and leave him hopping in frustration.
That’s nothing on how Mancini felt at the final whistle and he cut a disconsolate figure as he trudged towards the dressing room, having come up short yet again in the Champions League.
For all his domestic success with Inter and now City, his Champions League record of never having made it past the quarter-finals remains a blot on his impressive CV.
**
Napoli: De Sanctis 6; Campagnaro 6, Cannavaro 6, Aronica 5; Maggio 6, Inler 6 (Dzemaili 59mins 5), Gargano 6, Dossena 6 (Fernandez 88mins 5); Hamsik 7, Cavani 8 (Pandev 83mins 5), Lavezzi 7. Subs not used: Rosati, Grava, Mascara, Santana.
Manchester City: Hart 6; Zabaleta 6 (Johnson 85mins 5), Kompany 7, Lescott 7, Kolarov 6; Milner 6, Yaya Toure 6, De Jong 5 (Nasri 70mins 5), Silva 6; Dzeko 4 (Aguero 81mins 5), Balotelli 7. Subs not used: Pantilimon, Savic, Barry, Clichy.
Referee: Damir Skomina
HERO: Edinson Cavani. Two predatory strikes
VILLAIN: Edin Dzeko. Totally anonymous
ANORAK: This defeat ended City’s nine-match winning run
