Champions League: De Bruyne is Back at the Etihad!

Manchester City vs Napoli

Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City welcome Serie A champions Napoli for their Champions League opener on Thursday night at the Etihad Stadium. 

And the Manchester crowd will welcome back a hero when I Partenopei roll into town, with six-time Premier League winner Kevin De Bruyne in their party. The 34-year-old Belgian midfielder transferred to Napoli after ten glittering seasons with the Sky Blues and his quick return to his spiritual home makes Champions League: Manchester City vs Napoli such a mouth-watering prospect.  

De Bruyne has settled brilliantly into life in Naples as Antonio Conte’s side have made the perfect start to their title defence, winning 3-1 away to Fiorentina at the weekend while Guardiola’s men quashed any noise relating to their slow start with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Manchester United. 

The Manchester City vs Napoli 2025 betting odds back a home win on Thursday, but City struggled badly in the early stages of last season’s Champions League, so let’s see if they can get into stride a little quicker this time around.  

 

Talking Points 

Erling’s on fire 

While De Bruyne will dominate much of the pre-match Manchester City vs Napoli 2025 news, one of his old muckers at City has just posted a big reminder of just how good he is. The Blue Moon certainly rose at the Etihad for the Manchester Derby as the Sky Blues swept away the Red Devils and the Norwegian goal machine Erling Haaland scored a clinical brace and he also hit the post. As the hosts ripped through the Manchester United defence at will Haaland, who benefited so much from playing with De Bruyne over the past three campaigns, was as deadly as ever. 

And his brace against City’s neighbours made it seven goals in a week after Haaland helped himself to five when Norway hammered Moldova 11-1 last week. In his first season in the UK, Haaland scored 52 goals in all competitions as City won a treble and, now 25 years of age, he is nearing his prime. And, though De Bruyne is now part of Manchester City history, there will be no shortage of supply for Haaland as the return to form of midfield ace Phil Foden, as well as the glittering wing play of winger Jeremy Doku, was on show on Sunday. And City have bought well over the summer, adding attacking midfielder Tijjani Reijnders to their creative unit after his switch from AC Milan. The 27-year-old has been impressive so far and has already drawn some comparisons to the great De Bruyne…but these are early days.   

 

Napoli’s perfect start 

Conte’s team could not have made a better start to their Scudetto defence, top of the Serie A table on nine points and ahead of Juventus on goal difference. And De Bruyne had a dream start as Napoli’s Manchester contingent stole the show in their first game, away to Sassuolo, Scott McTominay scoring the opener and De Bruyne getting off the mark to make it 2-0. I Partenopei followed that up with a narrow 1-0 win at home to Cagliari as Frank Zambo Anguissa scored deep into injury time. And then last weekend Napoli’s trip to the romantic city of Florence was as good as it gets for the men from Naples as they picked up an impressive 3-1 victory, as De Bruyne got the ball rolling with a sixth-minute penalty. And just to annoy Manchester United fans more, after watching their former star McTominay win the Scudetto last term, they now see Rasmus Hojlund, who couldn’t buy a goal at Old Trafford, finish with style with just a quarter of an hour on the clock before Sam Beukema made it 3-0 to Napoli.  

This could turn out to be a great move for Hojlund, who switched from Manchester United to Napoli late in the window; he can fill the boots left by Belgian centre forward Romelu Lukaku who picked up a nasty injury in pre-season.     

 

History

Manchester City have faced Napoli four times before, winning two, drawing one and losing one.   

The Sky Blues have picked up two wins and two defeats from their opening four league games; meanwhile, Napoli have been relentless in the early weeks of the new Serie A campaign winning three on the bounce.      

 

Betting Tip

City are the hot favourites, at SBOTOP odds of 1.65, with the draw at 3.38 and Napoli the outsiders at a price of 5.00 

I’m expecting an entertaining tussle and, like everyone else, can’t wait to see De Bruyne back at the Etihad. For a correct score line a 1-1 draw is priced at 7.22 and 2-1 to City is at 7.45; and I think those scores will be close to the money.

   

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