Champions League
2011-09-14 - Manchester City vs Napoli
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football : Champions League Match Day 1
Wednesday 14 September 2011 - Kickoff 7:45pm
This game is live on TV
Manchester City
Manchester City are a real danger in the Champions League this season as Roberto Mancini has put together a young talented side with plenty of experience of playing at the top level of European football. They have players that have won the Champions League before, so they should be capable of making a real impact, including in this Group which looks tough on paper.
If the form in England is anything to go by, Manchester City are going to be a real tough ask for any of the teams in this Group. They are currently 2nd in the Premier League despite winning all 4 of their opening games while scoring 15 goals and conceding just 3. City have won both home games against Swansea and Wigan, scoring 7 goals and keeping clean sheets in both games.
City finished with a 5-1-0 record at home in the Europa League last season as they fell at the last 16 stage. Only Juventus managed to get a draw from their visit to Manchester, and I feel the home side have improved since then. City have won 10 in a row at home in all competitions stretching back to last season, and they have only conceded 1 goal in those games.
James Milner and Gareth Barry are both missing from the squad after suffering injuries at the weekend, while Nigel de Jong remains sidelined. Owen Hargreaves is not in the Champions League squad so Roberto Mancini may be forced to play a more attacking midfield trio than he may have wanted. Mario Balotelli is out through suspension carried over from last season.
Napoli
Napoli were one of the surprise teams of Serie A last season as they finished 3rd to automatically qualify for the Champions League. I am sure the team would have been hoping to get a better draw than this one as they have been placed in a Group where even coming 3rd would be an achievement let alone qualifying for the last 16.
Things in Naples are as good as they have been since the glory days of Diego Maradona and Careca in the late 1980's. Serie A has not been in action until last weekend when Napoli won their game at Cesena 1-3 but this is an altogether different test. Napoli finished 9-3-7 away from home in Serie A last season, scoring 26 goals and conceding 24.
Napoli did manage a draw at Juventus last season, but took heavy defeats at Inter, Milan, Lazio and Udinese. They finished 1-2-2 away from home in the Europa League last season, losing at Villarreal and Liverpool, arguably the two best teams they had to play in the competition as the team went out in the last 32.
Marek Hamsik started on the bench against Cesena and is expected to come back into the starting line up. Blerim Dzemaili is likely to be on the bench with Walter Gargano coming into the midfield alongside Gokhan Inler. Edison Cavani will be shouldering the expectation of scoring the goals.
Prediction
Usually backing a team that has not had Champions League experience before is a fast way to the poor bank, but Manchester City are an exception to this as they are an exception to many things we have come to take as granted.
This should be a comfortable start for City in the Champions League as they face a team that will not sit back and try and make life difficult, but will come out and attack as they did last season.
That should open up the game for the likes of David Silva, Samir Nasri and Sergio Aguero to flourish and I think City will make a very good start to the competition.
With all the attacking talent they have, I can see City creating chances and they have players like Aguero, Edin Dzeko and Carlos Tevez who have experience of playing, and scoring, at this level.
The home team just don't concede many goals at the Etihad Stadium and I think the will be able to punish a team that has struggled against the better teams in the last 12 months. Napoli have been beaten by 2 or more goals at Inter, Milan, Lazio, Udinese and Liverpool in that time and I think Manchester City will add themselves to that list on Wednesday.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Manchester City 3-0 Napoli
