Preview: City face Napoli in De Bruyne reunion
Pep Guardiola’s Man City host Antonio Conte’s Serie A holders in the two clubs’ first game of the 2025/26 Champions League campaign. There is a lot of football between now and the final, but both clubs could make it.
By Alex Roberts
It’s been a mixed start to the season for City, with two wins and two defeats from their four games so far, although a 3-0 win over Ruben Amroim’s disastrous Man United side should have given them a much-needed morale boost.
As for Napoli, they’ve carried on from where they left of last season, sitting top of the table with a 100% record, winning all three of their games to far, conceding just one goal in the process.
An emotional reunion
The Ginger Pele, Kevin de Bruyne, will face off against the club he won it all with. After spending a truly remarkable ten years at the Etihad, De Bruyne was released at the end of last season.
Since the move, he’s shown why he was correct to reject offers from the MLS and Saudi Arabia to remain at the top level, bagging two goals in his three games, including a tasty freekick in the 2-0 win over Sassuolo in his first match.
He’s only been there for a couple of months now but it’s clear that everything is already going though him. It’s a small sample size, but six chances created, nine accurate long balls, and 126 accurate passes indicate he’s their main creative outlet.
It’s pretty surreal to say, but City will have to STOP De Bruyne if they want to win this.
Finally finding some end product?
Much has been said about Jérémy Doku since his arrival at City, but the most persistent criticism is that while he gets into great positions, he lacks the end product to secure a regular place under Guardiola.
Four assists in his last two games for club and country may suggest the times are changing, however. He absolutely did Luke Shaw with some lovely footwork before running to the byline and getting the assist for Phil Foden’s opener, via a little bit of luck.
Doku got his second assist with a deft little through ball to Erling Haaland, who had absolutely no problem holding off Shaw and slotting beyond Altay Bayındır and give City their second of the night.
The winger has been City’s most creative player so far this season, creating a high of seven chances, two of which can be considered ‘big’, while also leading the way in terms of xA (expected assists) with one, which he is beating by 100%.
Team News
Of course, there are the unfortunate few that will miss out on the game due to various injury issues. Mateo Kovačić, Omar Marmoush, and Rayan Aït-Nouri are all out and aren’t expected to make their returns until October, while Rayan Cherki is out until November.
John Stones remains a major doubt for this one too as he continues to work his way back from a knock he picked up while with the England camp.
As for Napoli, centre-back Amir Rrahmani will be out for another few weeks with a hamstring injury and ‘keeper Nikita Contini is sidelined with a broken hand. Obviously not ideal for someone in his position.
Big man up top Romelu Lukaku wasn’t even included in their Champions League squad due to his thigh injury so we could see former Man United forward Rasmus Højlund starting in the number nine. The Dane scored on his debut so let’s see if the redemption arc continues.
Prediction
Both sides have plenty of attacking talent so expect goals in this one. We’re going to go with a 2-2 draw at the Etihad.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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