Napoli 2 Man City 4: Sergio Aguero breaks club record as City progress to knockout stages

Aguero finally claimed the club’s all-time scoring record as City became the first English club to win in Napoli’s notoriously intimidating San Paulo Stadium.

The Argentina striker moved ahead of pre-war hero Eric Brook by striking his 178th goal to clinch their passage through to the last 16 with two games to spare with Raheem Sterling adding a further gloss with the fourth in stoppage time.

It was City’s 14th win on the trot but by far the most significant and one that will be noted around Europe.

They recovered well with two headed goals from centre half partners Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones after Lorenzo Insigne had put the Serie A leaders ahead.

Jorginho’s penalty after Leory Sane had tripped Raul Albiol levelled the scores but Sane made amends by racing away to set up Aguero for his record-breaking goal before Sterling scored his 10th of the season.

Clinching the record in front of a home crowd at the Etihad would have been the perfect scenario for Aguero to but the Stadio San Paulo wasn’t a bad second option. The Argentina star will have heard all about the ground from Napoli legend Diego Maradona, the grandfather to his son Benjamin.

Napoli boss Maurizio Sarri had warned on the eve of the game that City liked to start fast and kill teams off early on. City had been two-up after just 13 minutes when the teams had met at the Etihad but it was the Italians who were on the front foot from the kick-off last night.

City did not help themselves by uncharacteristically giving the ball away on several occasions as they tried to play it out from the back, although Napoli’s high pressing game proved difficult to bypass.

Napoli put a lot of emphasis on attacking City’s right flank where Guardiola had surprisingly rested Kyle Walker to give Danilo a game. Hamsik tested Ederson with an early shot and fired another high over the bar while John Stones made a vital clearance from Insigne’s dangerous cross. 

Sterling made a couple of darting runs and Aguero had a shot on the turn blocked but Napoli continued to look the more threatening team and took the lead with a beautifully worked goal.

Sarri had joked they should start the game in the 21st minute because of City’s habit of flying starts so it was fitting the strike should come in that said minute. 

Kevin De Bruyne failed to track Insigne’s darting run and it proved costly. Insigne played a one-two with Dries Mertens and was left totally unmarked to collect the return and sweep his shot past Ederson. 

It was the first time since the win at Bournemouth back on August 26 that City had been behind in a game but they responded impressively.

Sergio Aguero had a pushing and shoving session with Koulibaly that ended with the Napoli defender appearing to strike his opponent unseen by the referee. But the off-the-ball incident seemed to suddenly fire up City.

Aguero started a fine counter-attack that ended with Sterling cutting the ball back to him and his goal-bound shot was deflected for a corner.

Then Ilkay Gundogan’s curling shot was deflected over but City maintained the attacking momentum and equalised after 34 minutes.

De Bruyne played a short corner to Gundogan whose cross was headed home at the far post by Otamendi as he climbed above Elseid Hysaj.

It was his third of the season and continued a trend for City – his centre-half partner Stones scored twice in the opening group win at Feyenoord.

City may have been slow out of the blocks in the first half but normal service was resumed after the break when they took the lead after only three minutes.

Sane swung over a corner form the left and Stones emulated defensive partner Otamendi by climbing highest to head home, with the ball striking the underside of the bar but bouncing down over the line.

Insigne served a reminder of Napoli’s threat with a 25-yard snap shot that struck the bar.