Napoli best side I have faced in my career, says proud Pep Guardiola after Manchester City win
Premier League leaders hold on for 2-1 Champions League victory against Italian pacesetters
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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola described his side’s 2-1 victory over Napoli in the Champions League group phase as one of the proudest moments of his storied career.
City took a quick-fire 2-0 lead in Tuesday’s game through Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus, but Amadou Diawara’s penalty – after Dries Mertens had squandered an earlier spot-kick – made for a nervy finale.
Before the game Guardiola had lavished praise on Maurizio Sarri’s Napoli, who are top of Serie A with eight wins from eight games, and afterwards he made the surprising claim they were the best opponent he had ever faced.
“I think it was an extraordinary game from both sides. We faced one of the best sides I faced in my career, probably the best,” said Guardiola, who previously led Barcelona to two Champions League titles.
“It is one of the wins I am most proud of in my career.
“Today we won against an incredible team. To do that you have to do an incredible performance.”
Sterling and Jesus struck in the first 13 minutes at the Etihad Stadium, at which point Premier League leaders City looked set for a victory comparable to Saturday’s 7-2 demolition of Stoke City.
But the home side’s commitment to building play up from the back gifted Napoli opportunities that the visitors eventually exploited.
Although Mertens squandered their first penalty in the first half, drilling his spot-kick at Ederson’s legs, Diawara made no such mistake in the 73rd minute after Fernandinho was penalised for felling Faouzi Ghoulam.
However, when asked if City’s tactics had invited pressure from Napoli, Guardiola said the solution was not less passing out from the back, but more.
“We have to do it more,” said Guardiola, whose team are now three points clear of Shakhtar Donetsk at the top of group F.
“You play long balls against that team, in two seconds they are attacking. In football, how fast the ball goes, how fast it comes back.
“You have to play better build-up, to contact with Kevin [De Bruyne] and [David] Silva. If you play long balls, [Kalidou] Koulibaly and [Raul] Albiol are stronger than our strikers. You spend 90 minutes running.
“Instead, they run after the ball. That is the point. There’s a risk, but you score goals because after that you can create chances. You have to play as much as possible.”
