THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NAPLES, Italy — Edinson Cavani ended his scoring drought in style with two goals in Napoli’s 2-1 win over Manchester City on Tuesday, putting a big dent in the Premier League leaders’ chances of qualifying for the knockout phase of the Champions League.
Cavani, who hadn’t scored since Oct. 29, gave Napoli the lead with a glancing header off a corner in the 17th minute.
Match highlights: CSKA Moscow v Lille | Otelul Galati v Basel | Real Madrid v Dinamo Zagreb | Trabzonspor v Inter Milan | Napoli v Manchester City | Lyon v Ajax |
Bayern Munich v Villarreal |
Manchester United v Benfica
Italy forward Mario Balotelli then took advantage of a defensive error to equalize for City in the 33rd. But Cavani restored Napoli’s lead in the 49th, taking a cross from Andrea Dossena and firing past goalkeeper Joe Hart from the centre of the area.
In a furious finish, Napoli forward Marek Hamsik hit the post in the 76th and Balotelli wasted four chances to equalize.
Bayern Munich leads Group A with 13 points after beating Villarreal 3-1. Napoli is next with eight, City seven and Villarreal zero.
In the final group round on Dec. 7, City hosts Bayern and Napoli visits Villarreal.
Napoli controls its own destiny, and can advance by winning its final match no matter what City does. City, however, needs to beat Bayern and hope Napoli doesn’t win in Spain.
"You never know. We’ll see what happens," said Roberto Mancini, City’s Italian manager manager. "We didn’t deserve to lose, but in the Champions League you can’t allow your opponent certain types of chances. Napoli is a sneaky Italian side. We had our chances and it just didn’t go in."
For Cavani’s first goal, the ball also touched City defender Aleksandar Kolarov and Hart before going in, and Cavani nearly scored again when he hit the side of the net two minutes later.
Cavani scored 26 goals for Napoli in Serie A last season, managed a hat trick against AC Milan in September and also found the net in his opening two Champions League games this season. But he had struggled in recent weeks, with his last goal coming against Catania in the Italian league last month.
"Let’s enjoy this beautiful moment. We knew we could do it from the very first day," Cavani said. "We always prepare to give our maximum and today we were at our best."
City’s equalizer was the product of a poor clearing attempt from Salvatore Aronica. The ball went directly to David Silva, whose shot was deflected by goalkeeper Morgan De Sanctis directly to Balotelli, who sent it into an empty net.
Balotelli was playing his first club match back in his home country since leaving Inter Milan and he now has two Champions League goals to go with his six Premier League scores this campaign.
The scene at the San Paolo stadium was electric, with about 60,000 fans filling the stands for one of the biggest crowds since Diego Maradona led Napoli to Italian titles in 1987 and 1990.
However, there were only a couple of thousand City fans, leaving the visiting supporters cage — which features double sets of Plexiglass barriers and netting stretching up to the stadium roof — half empty.
Before kickoff, Napoli fans put on a fancy display, as fans held up cards in the squad’s blue-and-white colours nearly all the way around the main ring of stands, and formed the outline of the letter ‘N’ with lines of flares on one end.
During the second half, fans held aloft a banner mourning the recent death of Maradona’s mother, Dalma Salvadora Franco de Maradona. It read, "Lay in peace the mother of football, ciao Dona Tota."
City began with Balotelli and Edin Dzeko in attack — leaving Sergio Aguero, its most productive scorer this season and Maradona’s son-in-law, on the bench. Aguero came on for the final nine minutes.
Napoli countered with its "Three Tenors" of Hamsik, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Cavani.
In the 63rd, Balotelli couldn’t quite reach a cross with only the goalkeeper to beat, and he then was denied by De Sanctis in the 78th, headed high in the 82nd and failed to redirect a corner in the 84th.
After the final whistle, fans stayed inside the stadium to sing along to the old Neapolitan folk song, "O surdato ‘nnammurato," while fans elsewhere in the city poured out onto the streets and celebrated with fireworks.
Lille wins in Moscow
MOSCOW — Lille drew level on points with CSKA Moscow in Group B of the Champions League by scoring two second-half goals in a 2-0 win at the Russian club on Tuesday.
Lille went ahead 1-0 in the 49th minute when CSKA defender Vasiliy Berezutsky scored an own goal as he tried to deny Moussa Sow from taking on goalkeeper Vladimir Gabulov in a one-on-one.
Sow made it 2-0 in the 64th, tapping in a rebound after Joe Cole had hit the post from a pass by Eden Hazard into the box.
Lille is level with CSKA and Trabzonspor on five points, four behind Inter Milan, which is through to the knockout stages following the result. Trabzonspor was hosting Inter in a late match.
“We have capitalized on all our chances that we had in the second half,” Lille coach Rudi Garcia said. “Now we have to concentrate and win one more game.”
In the last round on Dec. 7, CSKA visits Inter and Lille hosts Trabzonspor.
CSKA pushed Lille back deep in its half for the first 10 minutes but never came close to scoring, allowing the visitors to gradually seize the initiative.
Lille went close in the 15th minute when Cole’s low shot from eight meters was blocked by Gabulov. Five minutes later, Mathieu Debuchy missed another chance for Lille, hitting the crossbar from seven meters.
CSKA’s only first-half scoring opportunity came in the 28th minute when Alan Dzagoyev’s curling kick was cleared by Idrissa Gueye from finding an empty net.
Sow almost scored in the 40th but Gabulov dived to deny the striker, and teammate Franck Beria then struck the outside of the net.
CSKA was playing without its best striker, Seydou Doumbia, who was suspended after being sent off in the 0-0 draw at Trabzonspor on Nov. 2. Japanese midfielder Keisuke Honda was also missing for CSKA because of injury.
“We deserved to lose today,” CSKA coach Leonid Slutskiy said. “With our problems with our lineup, we had few chances.”
Bayern Munich beats Villarreal 3-1
MUNICH, Germany — Franck Ribery scored two goals to help Bayern Munich advance to the last 16 of the Champions League as group winners with a 3-1 victory over Villarreal on Tuesday.
Ribery found the net in the third and the 69th minutes as Bayern capitalized on mistakes by Villarreal’s defence. Mario Gomez scored another for Bayern in the 24th, while Jonathan De Guzman struck for Villarreal in the 50th.
Bayern’s victory made sure that the Bundesliga powerhouse will win Group A no matter what happens in the final round of matches. The team cannot be overtaken by Napoli or Manchester City. Villarreal slipped to its fifth straight defeat in the group.
Real Madrid crushes Dinamo Zagreb 6-2
MADRID, Spain — Karim Benzema and Jose Callejon scored two goals each Tuesday as a rampant Real Madrid won Group D by crushing Dinamo Zagreb 6-2 in the Champions League.
It was never a contest at the Santiago Bernabeu as Benzema netted after just 84 seconds before Callejon and Gonzalo Higuain put the already-qualified Madrid 3-0 up inside nine minutes.
Mesut Oezil scored in the 20th for Madrid to go into the break with a comfortable margin, which Callejon and Benzema added to in the 49th and 66th minutes, respectively.
Madrid’s 12th straight win in all competition was spoiled by late goals from Fatos Beqiraj and substitute Ivan Tomecak as the Croatians’ first goals of the competition kept Madrid from becoming the first club to finish group play without conceding.
Lyon draws with Ajax
LYON, France — Lyon’s chances of reaching the last 16 of the Champions League are all but over after the French side drew 0-0 at home to Ajax on Tuesday.
Ajax goalkeeper Kenneth Vermeer made a stunning one-handed save to deny substitute Alexandre Lacazette in the last minute, but Ajax had the better chances until Lyon rallied in a frantic last 10 minutes.
Ajax has eight points, three points more than Lyon, and a vastly superior goal difference heading into the final Group D game. Lyon must win convincingly at Dinamo Zagreb and hope the Dutch side loses heavily at home to Real Madrid.
Lyon’s overly cautious approach played straight into Ajax’s side, and Lyon ‘keeper Hugo Lloris was kept busy throughout at Stade Gerland.
Benfica draws 2-2 at Man United
MANCHESTER, England — Benfica guaranteed its place in the last 16 of the Champions League by holding Manchester United to a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford on Tuesday.
Argentinian playmaker Pablo Aimar’s equalizer for Benfica on the hour mark ensured the Portuguese side a top-two finish in Group C and left United needing at least a draw in its final match, at Basel in a fortnight’s time.
An own goal by Phil Jones in the third minute gave Benfica the perfect start before United rallied through Dimitar Berbatov in the 30th and then Darren Fletcher 14 minutes after the break.
The draw lifted Benfica above United to the top of the group by virtue of the head-to-head record between the teams.
Inter draws 1-1 at Trabzonspor
TRABZON, Turkey — Inter Milan advanced to the last 16 of the Champions League despite only drawing 1-1 at Trabzonspor on Tuesday.
The Serie A team went through when Lille defeated CSKA Moscow 2-0 earlier in the day.
Inter midfielder Ricardo Alvarez scored in the 18th minute following an exchange with fellow Argentine Diego Milito. The hosts levelled five minutes later when Halil Altintop’s left-footed shot hit the crossbar and went in after deflecting off Inter defender Walter Samuel.
Inter leads Group B by four points from second-place Trabzonspor. Lille and CSKA are a further point back.
Basel beats Otelul Galati
BUCHAREST, Romania — FC Basel kept its Champions League hopes alive on Tuesday after holding on for a 3-2 victory over Otelul Galati in Group C.
Basel raced into a 3-0 lead by halftime after Fabian Frei opened the scoring in the 10th minute, Alex Frei added the second and Marco Streller completed the scoring for the Swiss side in the 37th.
Otelul’s players showed more determination in the second half and their efforts paid off in the 75th minute when Gabriel Giurgiu fired home and Liviu Antal found the net just six minutes later.
But Basel held on for a point which leaves it in a position to qualify for the knockout phase in its final game — if it can beat Manchester United in Switzerland.