The defeat in Manchester stings, but Rasmus Hojlund isn't making excuses. Napoli's Danish striker, the star of the bitter evening at the Etihad Stadium, spoke to Sky Sport about the 2-0 defeat against City on Matchday 1 of the Champions League League Phase.
"Playing against a team like that is already difficult ," he said, " doing it with ten men makes it almost impossible. We fought, but with one man down, the game became more difficult." An inevitable reference to Di Lorenzo's 21st-minute red card, an incident that significantly affected the match.
Then a joke about De Bruyne , replaced by Conte after half an hour: "Kevin is a great player and was really keen to stay on the pitch, but it's the coach who decides. We must always respect his decisions." These are mature words from the young Italian centre-forward, who is now already looking ahead to the next match, on October 1st at the Maradona against Sporting Lisbon, when Napoli will need to bounce back immediately to get their European campaign back on track.
The defeat in Manchester wasn't easy to digest. However, Hojlund is right in saying that when you're down to ten men, things get very complicated. I hope Napoli can bounce back in the next match and perform well.