Giovanni De Lorenzo could have prevented a pass to Haaland and his failure to do that forced him into a tackle just outside his box and VAR decided he prevented a goal scoring opportunity and was sent off. With 11 players, Napoli didn’t look like they stood a chance and then sending off a key defender like Lorenzo gave Pep’s army the chance to play with more freedom.
This was clearly reflected in the dominance on the pitch as City dominated 80% of the ball possession. As expected, Conte tried to manage the situation, taking off De Bruyne and he saw off the first half and the many threats from Manchester City.
It remained goalless until Haaland broke the deadlock just 16 minutes into the second half. Foden’s flicked cross was met by the Norwegian who headed it into the right side of the net beyond the reach of Milinkovic-Savic. That goal makes Haaland the fastest player to reach 50 goals in the Champions League, doing it in just 49 games.
For City’s second goal, Doku meets a Reinjers pass and after a bit of trickery that gets three Napoli players out of the way, he came one-on-one with Milinkovic-Savic and it was an easy finish for him.
