Roy Keane tips Manchester City to 'mess things up as it's in their DNA' despite historic win at Napoli
City have won 15 of their 16 matches this season but the former Manchester United captain still believes that his old rivals will slip up somewhere along the way
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Your support makes all the difference.Roy Keane took a thinly-veiled swipe at Manchester City immediately after their historic 4-2 victory over Napoli on Wednesday night by claiming “it is in their DNA to mess things up”.
The former Manchester United captain watched on as City became the first ever English side to win at the Stadio San Paolo, despite going behind early on. Nicolas Otamendi cancelled out Lorenzo Insigne’s opener just after the half-hour mark, before centre-back partner John Stones put Pep Guardiola’s side ahead only for Jorginho to convert a 62nd-minute penalty after Leroy Sane had fouled Raul Albiol.
With the game finely poised at 2-2, Sergio Aguero struck to score his 178th goal for City to take him clear of Eric Brook’s club record, before Raheem Sterling sealed the win with an eye-catching counter-attack in injury-time.
The victory almost guarantees City progression to the last-16 in the Champions League and stretches their unbeaten run this season to 16 matches – with all but one of those victories – yet Keane could not help himself from having a dig at the club that provided him with a fierce rivalry during his playing career.
“My only concern for City at the moment is that it is in their DNA, as a club, to mess things up,” Keane said on ITV. “They have previous where people have got carried away with City.
“But you look at the squad, the players they have, the coach, they will take some stopping.”
Keane’s comments follow his former teammate Gary Neville’s claim that City’s Premier League title challenge will depend on how they cope with the winter months, given their last two seasons have fallen apart across November, December and January when the weather conditions deteriorate and pitches no longer favour Guardiola’s attractive passing style.
However, there was praise from Guardiola’s opposite number in Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri, who labelled City as “the best team in Europe”, and the comments carry extra significance given that the Naples outfit currently lead Serie A having won 10 of their 11 games this season and having only suffered defeat in the Champions League.
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