Kevin De Bruyne will make a swift return to the Etihad Stadium when his new side Napoli travel to Manchester City for their opening League Phase tie in the 2025-26 Champions League on Thursday night.

It will be a highly emotional match for the Belgian, who will be playing against his favorite team and will meet his former teammates and coach.

Manchester City will play the reigning Italian champions. Manchester City wants to win the competition and, to do so, they must start with three points. Manchester City has been inconsistent, but the latest victory against their biggest rival should boost their confidence and return to consistency and strong performances.

The 2023 winners will be keen to make a strong start and avoid a repeat of their disappointing League Phase outing from last season, when they surprisingly finished 22nd in the 36-team standings.

Manchester City will be without the injured quartet of Omar Marmoush, Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait-Nouri, and Mateo Kovacic.

Napoli started their title defense well, playing three games and winning them all. They are playing well and conceding few goals. The strongest team they faced was Fiorentina, and they were the only team that managed to score against him. Despite their efforts, victory was always assured because they were leading 3-0. Napoli was the stronger team and played the better.

Napoli will be the fifth different team Conte has managed in the Champions League (along with Juventus, Chelsea, Inter Milan, and Tottenham), and the Italian club is preparing for its ninth campaign in the competition after failing to qualify for the 2024-25 edition, the first time they have missed out since 2009-10.

Romelu Lukaku, Luca Marianucci, Pasquale Mazzocchi, Amir Rrahmani, Nikita Contini, and Alex Meret are out due to injuries.

Two good teams on the pitch, but Manchester City, playing at home, has to be the favorite because they are a very strong team and, in terms of quality, have the better players. Manchester City's players are highly motivated after their last league victory, and this will help the team win this match.

凯文·德布鲁因将很快回到阿提哈德球场，届时他的新球队那不勒斯将在周四晚上做客曼城，参加他们在2025-26赛季欧冠联赛阶段的首场比赛。

对于比利时人来说，这将是一场非常激动人心的比赛，他将与他最喜欢的球队比赛，并将见到他以前的队友和教练。

曼城队将对阵意大利卫冕冠军。曼城想要赢得比赛，要做到这一点，他们必须从三分开始。曼城一直表现不稳定，但最近对最大对手的胜利应该会增强他们的信心，恢复稳定和强劲的表现。

这支2023赛季的冠军球队希望有一个强劲的开局，避免重蹈上赛季联赛阶段令人失望的覆辙，当时他们在36支球队中出人意料地排名第22位。

曼城将失去受伤的马尔穆什、切尔基、埃特-努里和科瓦契奇四人。

那不勒斯的卫冕开局不错，他们打了三场比赛并全部获胜。他们踢得很好，丢的球很少。他们面对的最强的球队是佛罗伦萨，他们是唯一一支在对阵他的比赛中进球的球队。尽管他们付出了努力，但他们总是胜券在握，因为他们以3比0领先。那不勒斯是一支更强的球队，踢得更好。

那不勒斯将是孔蒂执教的第五支不同的欧冠球队（之前还有尤文图斯、切尔西、国际米兰和托特纳姆热刺），这支意大利俱乐部在未能晋级2024-25赛季的欧冠联赛后，正在准备第九次参加欧冠联赛，这是他们自2009-10赛季以来第一次无缘欧冠。

卢卡库、马里亚努奇、马佐基、拉赫马尼、孔蒂尼和梅雷特因伤缺阵。

球场上有两支优秀的球队，但在主场比赛的曼城是最受欢迎的球队，因为他们是一支非常强大的球队，就实力而言，他们拥有更好的球员。曼城球员在联赛最后一场胜利后斗志昂扬，这将有助于球队赢得这场比赛。