Manchester City Are Serious UCL Contenders – Maurizio Sarri

Pep Guardiola has described Manchester City’s 2-1 victory over Napoli as one of the proudest wins of his managerial career.

“I did expect the game to go to 90 minutes because Napoli are an exceptional team,” Guardiola told a news conference. “We made a good first half, for 30, 35 minutes, we created the two goals and could have had a third or fourth goal. After that we were tired and couldn’t finish our little counter-attacks, we didn’t finish the actions.

“They have a big ability to make short passes. It is one of best teams I ever faced as a professional. That is why I am so proud because you cannot beat Napoli unless you produce a good performance.”

“I knew before we played and I know now — they are one of the best teams in Europe at the moment,” he added.

“It’s one of the wins I’m most proud of in my whole career. Napoli, for the way they play, of course they can win the league.”

Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri was equally complimentary of Guardiola’s side and believes City are among the favourites to win the Champions League. However, he admitted they were left being pissed with missed opportunities — particularly Dries Mertens’ first half penalty miss.

“We managed to fight back and not many teams at the moment are able to come back in the way we did and cause difficulties for Man City,” the Napoli boss said. “We regret fact we missed the first penalty, but we know now that we are on the right path to be competitive in Europe as well.

“I’ve seen a huge step forward compared with the match in Real Madrid last year when we were lucky enough to score first. Here we had to come back into the game from a very difficult situation after the first 25 minutes. I think we’ve definitely taken a step forward.

“Our opponents were very strong and made it tough for us. I think City are serious contenders. They have an extraordinary team with extremely positive qualities — they are quick, they are tactically savvy. If they can maintain their physical and mental shape as they are now they can really go all the way.”