Pep Guardiola was in an ominous mood before Manchester City’s Champions League clash with Napoli on Wednesday night.
‘Tomorrow we have a big, big challenge,’ he told reporters. ‘There will be moments to defend, moments when we are going to suffer like never before.’
It is not a notion City’s players are familiar with but the Spaniard is all too aware that, for the first time this season, his side come up against an attacking outfit as destructive as the one at his own disposal.
Dries Mertens has been the focal point of Napoli’s scintillating attack this season in Serie A
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has acknowledged that his side could suffer in Naples
Maurizio Sarri’s side sit top of Serie A, unbeaten and having scored 32 goals in the process. Second-placed Inter are the only visitors to have shut them out this season at the Stadio San Paolo. The others have all conceded at least three.
Spearheading that threat will be Dries Mertens. The diminutive Belgian is the man Guardiola will fear can halt the City express.
His strike against Sassuolo on Sunday was his 12th in 16 appearances across all competitions this season. Not bad for a striker who stumbled across his position only a year ago thanks to the potent mix of an injury crisis and a manager’s hunch.
Mertens was originally joined Napoli from PSV in 2013 as a left winger, charged with providing the ammunition for out-and-out goalscorer Gonzalo Higuain.
His ability to chip in with a goal never went unnoticed, though, and when Arkadiusz Milik ruptured his ACL while on international duty with Poland in October 2016, Sarri went with his instincts to entrust the forward role to the 5ft 7in wide man.
The Belgian has been responsible for some quality goals, including his strike against Genoa
He hasn’t looked back since. Mertens ended last season with 34 goals across all competitions last term. In 2017 alone he has 27 league goals across 29 Serie A matches. Sergio Aguero has just 17 in 25 Premier League clashes for City.
He is not just a great goalscorer either, but a scorer of great goals. His instinctive lob against Lazio towards the end of September went viral as Napoli dismantled the capital club, beating them 4-1 in their own back yard.
His strike last Wednesday, too, against Genoa drew gasps for different reasons, his touch with the outside of his right boot plucking a 40-yard pass out of the sky at full speed before smashing his shot into the roof of the net.
The 30-year-old missed from the spot at the Etihad Stadium but has scored 8 in 7 at home
He fluffed his lines when presented with the chance to score against City in the return fixture at the Etihad, his low penalty down the middle stopped by the legs of Ederson, but it was a minor blip.
A different tale awaits at the Stadio San Paolo where Mertens has scored eight in seven appearances this season. It is not just the team that have a happy habit for finding the net on their home patch.
At 30 years of age, it has taken the best part of his career to finally find his true calling. Having suffered out on the wing for so long, he is now ready to make up for lost time against City. Pep’s men may well suffer.