Manchester City 2-0 Napoli: Red ruins special De Bruyne return in Champions League

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 18: Jeremy Doku of Manchester City scores his team’s second goal past Vanja Milinkovic-Savic of Napoli during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Phase MD1 match between Manchester City and SSC Napoli at City of Manchester Stadium on September 18, 2025 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)

Napoli held out under 10 men after Giovanni Di Lorenzo’s early red card, but eventually capitulated to Manchester City in the Champions League, cutting short Kevin De Bruyne’s return too.

The fixture list gave De Bruyne an immediate reunion with his former teammates in this Champions League opener, with Rasmus Hojlund and Scott McTominay also returning to Manchester. Amir Rrahmani and Romelu Lukaku were injured, with Alex Meret not at 100 per cent, so Sam Beukema and Vanja Milinkovic-Savic stepped in again. Gigio Donnarumma made his City debut at the weekend in a 3-0 Premier League win over Manchester United and here faced his hometown club, with ex-Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders. Omar Marmoush, Rayan Cherki, John Stones, Kalvin Phillips, Rayan Ait-Nouri and ex-Inter midfielder Mateo Kovacic missed out.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

Milinkovic-Savic pushed a ferocious Reijnders strike out from under the bar, while Donnarumma got down quickly to parry a Beukema header on a corner at the back post.

However, the game changed when Phil Foden sent Erling Haaland through and he was brought down on the edge of the area by Giovanni Di Lorenzo. The referee had at first waved play on for a clean tackle, but VAR showed he did not make any contact with the ball, so the red card was inevitable.

Napoli are down to 10 men after Di Lorenzo receives a straight red for a challenge on Haaland ❌

📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/Pu83IdSnmS

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) September 18, 2025

Haaland’s header landed on the roof of the net, so with Napoli struggling down to 10 men, Antonio Conte sacrificed De Bruyne for Mathias Olivera, shifting Leonardo Spinazzola over to right-back.

Milinkovic-Savic smothered a scuffed Foden effort and got down to palm away the dangerous Rodri volley, but the goalkeeper needed a series of saves on the stroke of half-time on headers from Nico O’Reilly first, then Josko Gvardiol.

Politano made a desperate interception on the Reijnders first-time strike from 12 yards, redirecting it into the arms of Milinkovic-Savic, and celebrated it like a goal.

After the restart, Foden flashed an angled drive across the face of goal, but with Politano booked, Napoli moved to a 3-5-1 formation.

Manchester City broke the deadlock eventually, as Foden intelligently dinked up a ball on the edge of the area for the delicate Haaland header that looped over Milinkovic-Savic. It was the Norway international’s 50^th goal in just 49 Champions League appearances.

A simply fabulous header from Erling Haaland 💥

📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/JpXkJxyEGI

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) September 18, 2025

Napoli’s resistance ran out, as Jeremy Doku dribbled between two to squirm down the left and nutmeg Milinkovic-Savic with a wonderful angled drive.

Doku dances his way through the Napoli defence as he doubles Man City’s lead 😮‍💨

📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/niRQraLJwZ

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) September 18, 2025

Manchester City at this point seemed relatively content to keep the ball and not inflict much further damage, which should at least help Napoli going forward with goal difference in this Champions League format.

Manchester City 2-0 Napoli

Haaland 56 (M), Doku 65 (M)

Sent off: Di Lorenzo 21 (N)

25

45

24

80′

3

20

75

16

60′

4

80′

9

80′

10

69′

47

32

4

22

37

31

99

71′

11

26′

8

68

72′

21

55′

19

72′

1

27

13

91

63

14

60′

26

69′

6

80′

82

80′

52

80′

97

26

27

70

3

69

25

17

26′

5

55′

20

71′

6

72′

7

72′