Napoli defender Raul Albiol has claimed that Manchester City are the best team in Europe at present.
City are top of the Premier League table and have played some swashbuckling football in the early stages of the season.
Napoli have also made a flying start to the campaign and the teams meet in an eagerly anticipated Champions League clash at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday.
Albiol was pleased with Napoli’s hard-fought 1-0 victory away to Roma last night and is now looking forward to the game against City.
Speaking to Mediaset Premium, Albiol said: “We are happy to have won a tough game, as it’s always difficult away to Roma. There’s a long way to go yet, we must stay calm and focus on recovering our energy to face the best team in Europe right now, Manchester City
“I hope it’ll be a great game. Naturally, as a defender, I can’t hope for it to end 4-3, but everyone is waiting for these two teams who attack and score a lot of goals. We hope for a great performance and will be concentrated in Manchester.
“We’re in good shape too, I think the team has improved its mentality from previous years and doesn’t make the same mistakes. Because of that, we are getting more consistent results.”
City remain unbeaten in the Premier League this season and have already scored 29 goals, with Pep Guardiola having managed to get the best out of the extremely talented array of midfielders and attackers that he has at his disposal.
A 7-2 victory over Stoke City yesterday provided Napoli with a warning regarding what Guardiola’s team are capable of.
Napoli, though, are a forced to be reckoned with themselves – they have scored 26 goals in Serie A this campaign and have amassed 24 points.
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