De Bruyne’s Dream Return Ends in Disappointment | OneFootball

Kevin De Bruyne made his not-so-long-awaited return to the Etihad Stadium, less than four months after he left. The midfielder’s new side Napoli have began Serie A with three wins from three, whilst Manchester City have endured a more turbulent start in the Premier League. This was not reflected on the pitch as Napoli produced a disappointing display in their Champions League opener. With the visitors reduced to ten men early, it ended in a comfortable and routine victory for City.

Manchester City 2Napoli 0Etihad Stadium, Manchester, England

A Warm Reception

De Bruyne’s homecoming was meant to he the story of the night. A statue was commissioned for the midfielder back in May, but he will have to return at a later date to see it as it does not yet exist.

The Belgian characterised City’s unprecedented era of success across the past decade under Pep Guardiola. Tallying 381 appearances under the manager, he is the Catalan maverick’s second-most used player ever – only behind Bernardo Silva who he would surely be above if not for injuries.

City supporters will always possess special love for David Silva, Sergio Aguero and Vincent Kompany for their roles in the initial post-takeover success. Older fans may still crown Colin Bell as the king. But few, if any, would refute that De Bruyne is City’s greatest ever player.

His stats and trophy haul from his time at the Etihad speaks for itself – 422 matches, 108 goals and 177 assists. Six Premier League titles, two FA Cups, Five League Cups and a Champions League title. He was recognised as the club’s Player of the Season four times, PFA Player’s Player of the Year twice, Premier League Player of the Season twice and swept up a whole host of other individual accolades.

An emotional homecoming was to be expected but the magnitude of De Bruyne’s reception was still quite staggering. The entirety of the home crowd joined in singing the name of an opposition player before, during and after the match – a unique phenomenon.

A Ruthless Takedown

However after Giovanni Di Lorenzo’s 21st minute red card, it was the Belgian who was sacrificed. His dream return lasted just 26 minutes and ended in disappointment.

De Bruyne was not the only former Manchester resident to return to the city tonight. Former United players – who garnered a polar opposite reaction from the crowd – Scott McTominay and Rasmus Hojlund also lined up for Napoli.

McTominay has certainly enjoyed a renaissance in his career since arriving in Italy. Confined to the substitute bench at Old Trafford, the Scotsman was named Serie A MVP last season as he lifted the first league title of his career.

Hojlund is the latest player to switch Manchester for Naples, and he will be hoping for similar results. After two years misfiring at Old Trafford, the Dane scored on his Napoli debut last Saturday.

However both of the ex-United duo were relatively anonymous on a night to forget for Napoli.

A Record-Setting Norwegian

Erling Haaland was sure to make some headlines of his own. The Norwegian became the fastest player to ever score 50 Champions League goals, achieving the feat in just 49 appearances – 13 fewer than it took Ruud van Nistelrooy. Haaland’s half-century is just the latest in his ever-growing list of goalscoring records.

Phil Foden made his second start of the season and continued finding his form. It was the Englishman who played a delightful ball through to Haaland to set up the opener.

Naples-born Gianluigi Donnarumma continued in net for City. The Italian goalkeeper kept another clean sheet against his mother’s favourite team.

Overall it was close to a perfect night for City, who will now dust themselves off and travel to face Arsenal on Sunday.