Youth League, Napoli U19 lose 2-0 to Manchester City in opening match | OneFootball

Bitter debut for Napoli U19 in the Youth League. Coach Rocco’s young Azzurri were beaten 2-0 away by Manchester City, paying the price for inexperience and a bit too much nervousness in attack.

Samba opens the scoring, Heskey seals it with a penalty in stoppage time

The match remained balanced throughout the first half, with the home side dictating play and Napoli focusing mainly on defense. After several chances created by City and well saved by goalkeeper Pugliese, the goal that broke the deadlock came in the 50th minute: Samba, at the end of a long passing move, unleashed a left-footed shot that was unstoppable for the Neapolitan keeper.

Napoli tried to react, coming close to equalizing with Anic and Lo Scalzo, but lacked the necessary composure in front of goal. In the final moments, in the 95th minute, a foul by Gambardella handed City a penalty to double their lead: from the spot, Heskey made no mistake, sealing the 2-0 result. A harsh but not surprising outcome, given the strength of the English academy, one of the most competitive in Europe. There is regret for some missed opportunities that could have changed the momentum of the match. For many of the young Azzurri, it was their first taste of international competition, and nerves played a part in their decision-making. The team will now have to learn from this experience ahead of the next group matches, which will feature the same opponents as the first team.

Andrea Alati

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.