“The important thing is that we learn” says Antonio Conte after Manchester City defeat | OneFootball

Napoli were defeated 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium by Manchester City thanks to two second-half goals coming from Erling Haaland and Jérémy Doku.

Antonio Conte has remained positive regarding his side’s performance and highlighted the importance of resilience and learning from the defeat.

“We have to say, from what I saw, we came out this game stronger,” Conte said. “We could have had a score line that made history after you go down to 10 men against a team like Manchester City.

“We came here to play the game, the impression I had was when we had the ball, we could hurt Manchester City,” the Napoli boss added.

Captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo was shown a straight red card on the 21st minute when he denied Haaland of a clear goalscoring opportunity.

Conte hasn’t looked back on the moment and whether he agrees with the decision, but he did say he was sure that it changed the game for his side.

“The game changed once we had the sending off,” he commented. “Have to take the positives out of the 70 minutes we played 10 against 11 against a top team – a great desire, we didn’t want to give up and say defeat is inevitable.”

“I haven’t looked at the sending off again, but I don’t want to spend time talking about individual moments. The players knew what they wanted to do, and they really wanted to test themselves, ultimately though I think we can’t draw too many conclusions from this game,” he added.

Despite his side not getting the result they desired, Conte is adamant to to get back on the right track and make the people of Napoli proud.

“Today, the feeling I had was that our team came here, was well aware of the size of the task and they wanted an equal footing,” he said.

Conte added: “The important thing is that we learn, my takeaway is very positive – we were fearless. We need to enjoy our European journey, I think it’s difficult some of the big teams didn’t finish in the top eight (last season).

“We’re going to grit our teeth and try and get the best possible result – we want to make the city proud.”

Kevin De Bruyne returned to the Etihad for the first time since his exit from Manchester City, but his homecoming was cut short when Conte substituted the Belgian midfielder shortly after his side were reduced to ten.

“I was disappointed, since I have been manager here, we haven’t had one red card. Kevin De Bruyne has come back home and after 20 minutes it is done,” Conte said.

“I was very sorry I had to make that substitution,” he added. “I knew by taking him off we would miss some of the things he can do.

“He’d been here ten years, I am very sorry, but I don’t see I had any other option but he understand why I made that decision. Destiny throws us in these situations!”