Conte had taken him off at the break and sent on Mathías Olivera to fill the right-back spot left empty by Di Lorenzo's red card. It was about as honest an admission as a manager could make: ten men, 2-1 down at the Etihad, and the job now was to survive. De Bruyne sat in the dugout zipped into a Napoli puffer jacket. The home crowd had applauded him when the board went up, but by the time the ball was rolling again the noise had moved on.
City had the ball almost from the restart and barely gave it back.
At half-time Guardiola had changed Lukas's job. In the first half he'd stayed on the right touchline and stretched Napoli until gaps appeared. Against ten men, Pep wanted him inside. Whenever City had possession he was to drift off the wing into the right half-space and play almost as a second number ten, with Bernardo shuffling across to hold the right flank behind him. The idea was to crowd the middle and make Napoli's midfield cover more players than they had.
