Manchester City: Matchday 4: Sarri v City
Manchester City travel to Naples for matchday four of the Champions League. Hoping to continue their good run of form, Pep’s side has more than enough to come away from the San Paolo with the result they need.
Their last meeting, as with their last Premier League game, started off in blistering fashion. Storming to an unassailable lead before letting the opposition back in the game. Okay, so maybe the Napoli game was a better reflection of a tough game, it was still our mistakes which were punished.
Mistakes like the penalties given away in that game, or the chest back to the goalkeeper against WBA need to be learned from. This side, as we saw at the Etihad, will punish those in an instant.
Three wins from the opening three Champions League games mean that City go into this game knowing anything other than a defeat will see them through. They could also pretty much secure top spot if results go their way.
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Sergio Aguero will be looking to get a starting position for the game, knowing his next goal will see him go ahead of Eric Brook as Manchester City’s top goal scorer. In the last game Sergio was on the bench as an unused substitute, with Pep Guardiola proving that winning games comes ahead of any sentiment.
One point I would like to make is we are getting to the stage of the competition when yellow cards start racking up, meaning suspensions. For Napoli, they have their central defender, Kalidou Koulibaly, who is one yellow away from a suspension. For us, it’s our boy wonder, Kevin DeBruyne. Another yellow, and he will have to sit out the visit of Feyenoord in three weeks time.
A side note involving the referee for this game. German Felix Brych has taken charge of two Manchester City Champions League games previously, and we lost both. The first, at home to Barcelona in the round of 16. February 24th 2015 saw a Barcelona 2-1 victory.
Next: Manchester City: Napoli next
Two goals from Luis Suarez scored two goals in the space of fourteen minutes as the Catalan side raced to a 2-0 lead after half an hour. Sergio Aguero pulled one back in the second half, but it wouldn’t be enough.
Later that calendar year, although in the following campaign, we faced Juventus. In the group stage, Manchester City fell to a single goal by Mario Mandzukic in Turin. Now, 551 miles to the south of Turin, he takes charge of us again in Naples. Hopefully we get a better result this time around.