Two hours before Manchester City and Napoli squared off in the Champions League, a match billed as the battle for second in Group A, Sky Sports' Geoff Shreeves and Ray Wilkins were giving a quick pregame spiel on the pitch of the Stadio San Paolo, one of the old-school stadiums in the game. The former stomping ground of Diego Maradona during Napoli's heyday in the 1980s was already half-full, and when some City staffers walked out on the pitch, whistles and howls cascaded from the dilapidated stands. This was but a taste of what one of Italy's most passionate fan bases had in store for Manchester City's players.
Napoli was going to need the proverbial "12th man." It had one win in its previous seven games, while the team's trident of attackers -- Edinson Cavani, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Marek Hamsik -- hadn't yet hit its high notes so far this season. Yet despite a drab 0-0 draw with Lazio on Saturday, the Neapolitan edition of Corriere dello Sport proclaimed the next day "Napoli is ready" for City.
The words turned out to be prophetic, as the Italian side defeated Manchester City 2-1 in the Champions League. The result puts Napoli in the driver's seat to qualify for the knockout stages and places City on the brink of elimination. For City fans, who saw their team's nine-game winning streak snapped by the strength of a strong, fast counterattacking side, the prospect is bleak. Roberto Mancini's men will have to defeat Bayern Munich at home, while Napoli will travel to El Madrigal to face the group's whipping boys, Villarreal. Yes, Bayern has already qualified for the knockout stages and might not play a full-strength squad, but it still will not be an easy ask for City to win at Eastlands on Dec. 7.
It's certainly not how City's manager drew things up. With a cloud of smoke hanging over the field from the prematch flares, the Sky Blues started well enough. They controlled possession and maintained their cool, with Aleksandar Kolarov providing some good width down the left. But Napoli always looked threatening on the counter, and in the 17th minute Cavani scored the first of his two goals, one that City should never have let into the back of the net. It was set up after Gokhan Inler's long-range effort forced Joe Hart -- who had a terrific game -- into pushing the ball over the crossbar. On the ensuing corner, Cavani got the slightest of touches on a ball that beat Hart on the near post.
The goal -- and crowd -- had City rattled. The support doesn't compare to the glory days when the Sao Paolo was bursting with 75,000 spectators each week cheering on Maradona, but the crowd played its part against Mancini & Co. Gone were the "City Slickers" who score for fun in the Premier League and are off to the best topflight start in England since Spurs in 1963-64. Yet Napoli did something Premier League sides find virtually impossible to do (or don't seem to think of in the first place): In the first half, it double- and often triple-teamed David Silva, who therefore didn't have his usual impact and made some poor decisions in the first half, including failing to pass to a wide-open Kolarov in the 28th minute.
But as cheaply as City gifted the first goal, Napoli repaid the favor in the 33rd minute. Mario Balotelli laid the ball out wide to Edin Dzeko, who threaded the needle between two defenders to pick out Silva. Finally, the Spaniard had a right go at goal, and all keeper Morgan De Sanctis could do was parry the ball out in front of him, where Balotelli couldn't miss an easy tap-in.
While City ended the half bossing the play, with James Milner and Kolarov particularly impressive, Napoli took the lead for good in the 49th minute. Cavani picked the ball up 35 yards from goal, played it wide to his left and eventually got on the end of Andrea Dossena's cutback pass, snapping the ball past Hart. It was a brilliant finish. Vincent Kompany, who's had better games, also failed to track back and attempt a block on Cavani; instead, he was too busy trying to convince the linesman of an offside call, knowing that he and his teammates were once again caught out.
The crowd once again erupted. You could practically see the thought bubble over Mancini's head: "Summer shopping list -- No. 1, Cavani."
Napoli could have easily added to its tally were it not for Lavezzi slipping on a loose ball fisted away by Hart in the 64th minute and a great save by Hart in the 69th when he found himself in a one-versus-one with Lavezzi after Kompany lost his footing. The City keeper also put Christian Maggio off in the 79th minute to save his teammates, while the post did the work for him when Hamsik smashed the ball against it in the 77th.
When the keeper is the team's best player, it usually means the side was second-best, and that was the case in this match. The win was a big, if temporary, boost not just for Napoli, which sits outside qualification for Europe in Serie A, but also Italian football, which is widely reported to be in the doldrums these days. Meanwhile, City continues to struggle in the Champions League, a competition in which the Sky Blues have often looked tentative and nervous. Or are the team's lackluster performances more of an indictment of the competition it has faced in the EPL? Regardless, big things were expected on Tuesday, with Mancini making his most celebrated return to Italy since joining the Premier League side. Napoli is the home of his wife and mother, and, of course, his all-important tailor.
Mancini tried to rescue a tie, taking off Nigel de Jong for the more attack-minded Samir Nasri in the 70th minute and bringing on Sergio Aguero for Dzeko in the 81st, though Dzeko had long since faded and had a poor game. Questions will be asked about why Micah Richards wasn't starting at right back, never mind not even on the bench, given the rich vein of form he has been in. And overall, while City got some width from Kolarov, it tended to be a bit too narrow in attack, per usual. Balotelli & Co. went for it in the dying minutes, frenetically attacking Napoli's goal, but it wasn't enough.
"We have another game and Villarreal can beat Napoli," Mancini told Sky Sports 2. "It is the first time we have played Champions League, but I don't think Villarreal will lose another game, they can win or draw -- why not? Everything is not finished -- never say never.''
The manager added, "We didn't deserve to lose this game."
It leaves him in a bind, one point behind Napoli. City's fate doesn't rest entirely in its hands. Given the Sky Blues' dominance domestically, it would be a shock if they fail to qualify for next season's Champions League, but glory in the 2011-12 edition hangs in the balance.