Manchester City Vs Napoli [2-0] Champions League 2025/2026: How Antonio Conte Dealt With Numerical Inferiority – Tactical Analysis

Manchester City hosted Napoli for the opening game of both teams’ UEFA Champions League journey.

The match ended with a 2-0 win for the Citizens despite Napolis considerable efforts, especially during the first hour of the match.

Antonio Conte had to deal with numerical inferiority after Giovanni Di Lorenzo received a red card in the 21^st minute of the first half.

This card conditioned the team’s performance during the remaining minutes of the game and obliged him to make the necessary changes to adapt to Manchester City’s strengths and resist their consistent attacking attempts.

In other words, Napoli showed more rivalry and challenged Man City better when they were equal in number, but then they had to retreat and defend with a low defensive bloc while relying on counter-attacking opportunities to help them punish Manchester City.

Although Napoli were dangerous during the first part of the match, counterattacking opportunities were not really possible afterwards, and the team had to resist mainly in defence.

On the other hand, Pep Guardiola’s side did not start the match as they wanted.

They encountered a very ambitious and organised team that did not allow them to score early in the game.

However, with recurrent attacks and a team organisation that favoured continuous pressure and possession inside the opponent’s half, they pushed Napoli into committing mistakes.

Then they continued to strive for a goal, which they succeeded in scoring during the second half, before adding a second goal to destroy Napoli’s comeback hopes.

In this tactical analysis of the match between Manchester City and Napoli, the focus will be on how Napoli dealt with their numerical inferiority in terms of decision-making, substitutions, and defensive tactics.

The analysis will also focus on Manchester City’s attacking solutions and how they were capable of opening the score and adding a second goal despite Napoli’s tight and compact defending efforts.

Manchester City Vs Napoli Lineups & Formations

Guardiola preserved the same lineup that he used against Manchester United in the Premier League, using the 4-1-4-1 formation with Gianluigi Donnarumma as a goalkeeper, Abdukodir Khusanov as a right-back, Rúben Dias and Joško Gvardiol as centre-backs, and Nico OReilly as a left-back.

Guardiola gave OReilly a lot of freedom in the attacking phase, and we saw him move regularly to the middle like an additional midfielder, helping with penetrations and passes and, more importantly, leaving the space needed for Jérémy Doku on the left flank to exploit it in the best possible way.

In midfield, Guardiola relied on Rodri as a defensive midfielder before substituting him with Nico González during the second half.

Both Phil Foden and Tijjani Reijnders played as central midfielders.

On the wings, he used Doku and Bernando Silva to support the main striker, Erling Haaland.

Manchester City Vs Napoli Lineups

Just like Guardiola, Conte decided to keep the same line-up that he used in their previous Serie A win against Fiorentina.

He relied on the 4-1-4-1 formation, which used Vanja Milinković-Savić as a goalkeeper, Sam Beukema and Alessandro Buongiorno as centre-backs, Di Lorenzo as a right-back before getting sent off early in the first half, and Leonardo Spinazzola as a left-back.

The midfield consisted of Stanislav Lobotka, a defensive midfielder, André-Frank Zambo Anguissa, and former Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne, central midfielders.

Matteo Politano and Scott McTominay played on the wings behind the main striker, Rasmus Højlund.

De Bruyne was very unlucky in this match as Conte was obliged to substitute him off following the red card of Di Lorenzo in order to make up for the defensive gap at the right flank by adding Mathías Olivera on the left flank and moving Spinazzola to play as a right-back.

This helped Conte maintain the team’s defensive balance at the expense of the attacking quality and quantity, as losing a player like De Bruyne upfront is obviously a huge loss against a team like Manchester City.

Nevertheless, this was the risk that had to be taken at that team since De Bruyne is the midfielder with fewer defensive roles and, therefore, can be subbed off.

Napoli’s midfield line turned into a duo made up of Lobotka and Anguissa, with the two wingers supporting in the defensive phase as well.

How Napoli Dealt With The Numerical Inferiority To Resist Man City

Napoli started the game with an adequate mentality and were able to keep up with Manchester City’s attempts to dominate the game.

They relied on disciplined defensive positioning from all ten players, especially both wingers, who played a remarkable role in limiting the impact of dangerous wingers like Doku and Silva.

In fact, both