A goal each from Erling Haaland and Jeremy Doku helped Manchester City beat Napoli at the Etihad Stadium in their Champions League opener on Thursday.
The Partenopei were at a disadvantage for a vast majority of the game due to Giovanni Di Lorenzo’s sending off in the 21st minute but still showed enough resolve to keep Pep Guardiola’s side at bay.
The Italian press have taken a closer look at the performances from both sets of players, with Gazzetta dello Sport placing special emphasis on summer signing Tijjani Reijnders.
The pink daily give the Dutchman a rating of 7/10, noting that his ability to work in the spaces behind Erling Haaland hurt Napoli a lot and indicate that the ex-AC Milan had a very impressive first-half.
They believe that the Manchester City player ‘hurts and shines’ Antonio Conte’s side, having played against the Naples club multiple times during his time at the Rossoneri.
Gazzetta have some glowing praise for Phil Foden too, describing him as someone who ‘changes the game’ for Manchester City and also grabs the key assist for the opening goal.
The Englishman is given a rating of 7.5, which is the highest in the Citizens side.
Josko Gvardiol, Nico O’Reilly, Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva and Rodri are also rated at 7, with all of them putting in good performances at the Etihad.
Corriere dello Sport describe Reijnders as a ‘constant threat’ in the final, rating him at 7/10 as well. They also hand Doku a rating of 7.5, which is the highest in the game.
Haaland, despite the headed second-half goal, is rated at 6 as Sam Beukema kept him quiet for a large part of the tie.
They also give special praise for Foden, claiming that he provided a ‘perfect assist’ and his performance was worth 7.
Corriere give a rating of 6 to Abdukodir Khusanov, Dias and Gvardiol, noting how they dictated play for Manchester City when Napoli were a man down.
