Manchester City lock horns with Napoli in the opening game of both sides' 2025-26 Champions League campaign this week.
- Date: 18/09/2025
- Kick-off: 8:00pm
- Location: Etihad Stadium, Manchester
Man City's start to the season has been mixed, with two wins and two defeats from four, while Napoli have enjoyed three wins from three. City have won four of their last five games at home, while Napoli have also won four of their last five games on the road.
Fans of the Serie A champions will be buoyed by the record of their manager, Antonio Conte, against Pep Guardiola, with the Italian winning four of the seven head-to-head matchups between the two men, with Guardiola winning three.
City's games tend to be goal-filled encounters, with six of their last seven games seeing over 2.5 goals scored, with those seven games averaging 4.57 goals per game.
City and Napoli have played one another in this competition on four occasions, with the Mancunians winning twice, Napoli once and the other ending in a draw. City's recent record in the Champions League, though, is poor, with the Sky Blues winning just one of their last seven in Europe, losing five of those.
Pep Guardiola's men are still searching for their best form and despite the fact they're on the back of a 3-0 win over Manchester United, the team is yet to fully convince.
Erling Haaland, though, has started the season like a freight train, scoring five goals in four Premier League games, and he's clearly going to be essential to anything the team might achieve this season.
City are still nursing injuries to key players, with John Stones, Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Mateo Kovacic all still on the sidelines.
After a strong summer in the transfer window, Serie A champions Napoli have enjoyed a very good start to the campaign. Three wins from three have included contributions from new signings Kevin De Bruyne and Rasmus Hojlund, both of whom scored in a 3-1 win at Fiorentina at the weekend, with the former now standing on two goals in three Serie A games.
Napoli have a well-balanced team with a very strong midfield containing a range of profiles, including De Bruyne, Scott McTominay, Stanislav Lobotka and André-Frank Anguissa. The Serie A side have plenty of athleticism and plenty of technical quality, and given how City are still struggling with issues out of possession, they'll back themselves to get a good result here.
Manchester City 2-2 Napoli
