UEFA Champions League 2017/18: Manchester City 2-1 Napoli, 5 talking points

#5 Manchester City win the midfield battle but that need not be the rule

Manchester City pressed high up the pitch in the opening quarter of the game and they cut down Napoli's passing channels to great effect. Their almost instant transitioning from defence to attack and fluid passing meant that the visitors were often on the backfoot.

City were compact in defence and constantly squeezed Napoli out of possession. Going forward, Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane were constant threats and their pace and quality on the ball caused Koulibaly and his cronies quite a few headaches.

While defending, the wing backs stayed near the halfway line and the midfielders and the attackers cramped Napoli for space and got themselves into good positions to win the second ball.

Even in spells when they were gradually getting marked out of significance, City's midfielders were clever enough to break free into space and push Napoli back by several yards.

However, once Napoli successfully shifted gears, the Citizens were pushed back into their own half. Clumsy tackling and complacency from the Blues led to a nervy finish. Though they held their own and got 3 points, the game surely threw light on their perceived frailties and their competition in the Premier League will want to make a note of that.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Shambhu Ajith