The Times
Welcome to pandemonium. Amid bedlam and ear-splitting noise on a turbulent night in Naples, Manchester City were left staring into the abyss on their first Champions League campaign.
Unstoppable as they might feel in the Barclays Premier League, City have found life difficult on the European stage. Difficult, though, does not begin to describe a chastening evening on which Edinson Cavani, the Uruguay forward, scored twice to take Napoli and their raucous, rowdy supporters to within touching distance of the knockout stages and leave City’s hopes hanging by a thread.
Thursday night, Channel 5? That will be City’s fate if they do not beat Bayern Munich at the Etihad Stadium on December 7 and, even if they do, they must hope that Villarreal, beaten in all five games so far, can somehow find a way to stop Napoli. It is a wretched situation for City, one that could feasibly be worsened by the delight that Bayern Munich would take in forcing European football’s nouveaux riches to drop into the Europa League.
This was a difficult group from the moment that it was drawn in Monaco in August, but City have made it even harder for themselves with some indisciplined performances. This was as ragged as their display at home to Napoli in September or away to Bayern a couple of weeks later. They responded well to Cavani’s eighteenth-minute goal, with Mario Balotelli drawing them level, but the overall theme of their Champions League campaign so far has been of them being outnumbered and occasionally swamped in midfield by opponents who can defend far more obdurately and counter-attack far more proficiently than City’s opponents in the Premier League.
City, and in particular Balotelli, threatened in the closing stages, but it was too little and too little on a night when Napoli earned their luck and then rode it.
The Stadio San Paolo is an assault on the senses. To look around the huge, empty arena on Monday evening was impressive enough – it feels so much bigger than the 60,000 capacity suggests – but 24 hours later the place was transformed into a cauldron of noise, the locals producing an ear-splitting cacophony.
There is something about certain European port cities – Marseilles, Rotterdam, Liverpool – that brings a particular intensity to their football grounds. You can certainly add Naples to that list. The most striking thing about the atmosphere was not necessarily the volume, but the sheer fervour of the crowd when Napoli’s players moved forward and the fury that could be heard and felt when any City player, particularly Balotelli, was on the ball.
For the first ten minutes or so, City seemed comfortable in their surroundings, stroking the ball around with a now-familiar sense of purpose, but then suddenly something seemed to click in the Napoli team. Three times in the space of five minutes they stretched the City back four: Cavani got around the outside of Aleksandar Kolarov to cross to Marek Hamsik, whose header was saved; Ezequiel Lavezzi exchanged passes with Cavani and struck a fierce shot wide; Andrea Dossena’s left-wing cross was narrowly missed by Lavezzi.
City were being swamped, but Cavani’s opening goal, on 17 minutes, looked avoidable. Gokhan Inler was given a little too much space 30 yards from goal, but his shot looked hopeful rather than dangerous when it was pushed wide in acrobatic fashion by Joe Hart. The resulting corner was whipped towards the near post by Lavezzi and flicked goalwards by Cavani, with neither Kolarov nor Hart able to stop the ball squirming over the line and into the net. Now the noise levels were ramped up even higher, with Napoli surging forward again and Cavani shooting against the side-netting a minute later.
But gradually, City started to find a foothold in the game, with Nigel de Jong, who looked rusty early on, James Milner, and Yaya Touré asserting themselves in midfield and helping David Silva to see more of the ball, which of course is central to their approach under Roberto Mancini.
Almost inevitably, Silva played an important part in City’s equaliser on 33 minutes, but so too did Salvatore Aronica, the weak link in the home defence. Edin Dzeko’s cross looked harmless enough, but Aronica passed it straight into the path of Silva inside the Napoli penalty area. Silva reacted quickly to send a low shot that Morgan De Sanctis could only palm towards Balotelli, who converted the loose ball instantly.
City ended the first half looking the stronger team, Kolarov seeing his shot saved from a tight angle, but the second half was a different matter. Four minutes after the restart Dossena found space down Napoli’s left flank and, in a crowded penalty area, picked out Cavani, who guided a right-foot shot past Hart to make the scoreline 2-1.
It was becoming the most serious test that this City side have faced this season. Frustration was growing and Balotelli and Silva were shown the yellow card in quick succession for minor expressions of dissent, but it could have been worse still by that stage, with Hamsik forcing his way past Kolarov and then shooting against the foot of the post.
With Sergio Agüero kept on the substitutes’ bench until the final minutes, it seemed that, if anyone was to rescue City, it would be Balotelli.
Three times in the closing stages there was a flicker of hope for the young Italy forward, but nobody could call him profligate.
The first saw him dart into space and test De Sanctis from Touré’s pass. The second was a header, at full stretch, from Nasri’s cross and the third a volley that he did well even to get on target from the same player’s corner.
By now victory was safe that Napoli’s players and supporters could taste it. The roar that greeted the final whistle is unlikely to be surpassed in Europe this season — unless, of course, City’s supporters can will their team through to the knockout stages when they face Bayern at the Etihad Stadium in a fortnight.
