Champions League MD1 Liveblog: Manchester City vs. Napoli

“I am very honest and I got the feeling we had started well the first 20 minutes, causing them problems with a high press. I had the sensation we could hurt them,” added the coach.

“I am sorry that these are games that get ruined by red cards, because you can never know how things would’ve gone and how the teams measure up really against each other. I’ve been a player, I know that fatigue also sets in after a while when you are down to 10, so I had to introduce fresh legs.”

Matteo Politano had impressed when defending against Doku, but when he was substituted after a yellow card for a 3-5-2 formation, Manchester City broke through.

“Matteo is not a wing-back, and he was being forced to play that role. He can drop down when needed to help out, but if he has to just stay in that position, then others are more suitable. We tried to bring home a result and changed our shape to do it,” confessed Conte.

“I am happy with the spirit of sacrifice from my players and I leave this match with positive sensations about our European progress. Those are my feelings.”

Rasmus Hojlund was increasingly isolated upfront, so should Napoli have pressed higher to at least try to score a goal?

“These are matches where you are ultimately forced to defend. We conceded precisely when we tried to press high on a throw-in. That was a mistake. Our intention had been to press and get into these individual duels, but when you are down to 10, you’ve got to defend and hope for a counter-attack,” replied Conte.

“We didn’t want to do that, but we had to. When we did try to press them, we conceded. It was an excess of generosity. We need to be more mature, understand the situations, when not to press high if you are 10 against 11.

“This is why I say that I am nonetheless happy with the mentality of these lads. We had pretty much never been down to 10 last season, so this was the first time we were tested like this, and it was against the strongest opponent. I saw positive things, the way we came here with the desire to play on an even level.

“I was honestly angrier after the win over Fiorentina, as we took our foot off the gas in the last 10 minutes. These are games where if you don’t use your head and hold on, you can concede five or six goals against Manchester City and those stay with you, so we avoided that.”