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Manchester City's Txiki Bergiristain: Napoli play Europe's 'best football'

Manchester City director of football Txiki Bergiristain said Napoli play "the best football" in Europe after being drawn against the Italian side in the Champions League group stage.

City escaped Europe's elite clubs in Thursday's draw and will face Napoli, Shakhtar Donetsk and Feyenoord in Group F, but Bergiristain said he holds the utmost respect for their opponents.

"With all due respect for Juventus and Roma, I think Napoli are the Italian team who play the best football, in fact the best in Europe," he said. "Maurizio Sarri is an extraordinary coach and we admired him only recently against Nice.

"[With City's Pep Guardiola], these are two great coaches who love to play football, to keep possession, and Feyenoord will also want to play good football, while Shakhtar Donetsk are a bit of a mystery."

However, Begiristain admitted he was thankful not be drawn into Group H, as Tottenham will have to face Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund.

"There are worse groups. In the skin of Tottenham, I would be more worried," he said. "We want to be a club who is always there. In the quarterfinals, semifinals and final. We want to be there every year.

"We hope that we can remember what we did two years ago, going to the semifinals, and why not even more?"