Manchester City came through 'tough test' to beat Napoli in Champions League says defender John Stones

  • Manchester City started well with goals from Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus
  • However Napoli improved and by the end City were hanging on for the points
  • Napoli wasted a gilt-edged chance when Dries Mertens' penalty was saved

John Stones believes Manchester City came through a 'tough test' after grinding out a 2-1 victory over Napoli to maintain their 100 per cent start in this season's Champions League.

City stormed out of the traps with goals from Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus inside the opening 13 minutes but Napoli wasted a gilt-edged chance to half the deficit when Dries Mertens' penalty was saved by Ederson just before half-time.

The Brazilian goalkeeper was a towering presence in the City goal and the only time his net was breached was through Amadou Diawara's 73rd-minute spot-kick.

John Stones thinks Man City came through a 'tough test' after grinding out victory over Napoli

John Stones thinks Man City came through a 'tough test' after grinding out victory over Napoli

City started well with goals from Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus inside  13 minutes

City started well with goals from Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus inside 13 minutes

However after Jesus' goal Napoli improved and by the end City were hanging on for the points

However after Jesus' goal Napoli improved and by the end City were hanging on for the points

City, though, never really looked in danger of failing to secure their third win in Group F and defender Stones was pleased by several aspects of their performance.


He said: 'We've put ourselves in a good position, a lot of games to play still. I say it all the time but we've got to keep going game by game.

'I think tonight was a great test to see where we were really at after a good run of hard games. We knew it was going to be a tough test.

Napoli wasted a gilt-edged chance to half the deficit when Dries Mertens' penalty was saved

Napoli wasted a gilt-edged chance to half the deficit when Dries Mertens' penalty was saved

'We wanted to play our game and I think some of the football out from the back right the way through to the guys up top was, at times, great to watch for me personally.

'We're a bit upset to concede the goal that we did, I thought it was a bit soft but overall: a great team performance.

'Every game is a hard game. We want to keep improving, keep scoring goals, keeping clean sheets and hopefully we can progress in the group.'