Napoli manager Antonio Conte has apologised to Kevin De Bruyne after substituting him just 26 minutes into their 2-0 defeat to Manchester City in the Champions League on Thursday night.
De Bruyne, who spent 10 years at City and won multiple trophies before moving to Napoli last summer, was making an emotional return to the Etihad Stadium. However, his reunion was cut short after Napoli were reduced to 10 men in the 21st minute when Giovanni Di Lorenzo was shown a straight red card for a foul on Erling Haaland.
In a tactical reshuffle, Conte replaced De Bruyne with Mathias Olivera to shore up his defence.
“It was the only thing I could do… I felt sorry for the boy, who we robbed of the satisfaction of playing against his old club. But I also robbed myself of the chance to count on him,” Conte told reporters.
Goals from Haaland and Jeremy Doku secured a comfortable win for Pep Guardiola’s side in their opening group fixture.
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