Mancini not giving up the ghost

Soccer:Manchester City are facing an early exit from the Champions League after a shattering loss at Napoli - but Roberto Mancini insists "anything can happen". The English league leaders were beaten 2-1 at the intimidating and vast San Paolo Stadium to fall behind the Italians and into third in Group A.

City will now need to beat group winners Bayern Munich in their final game next month and hope winless Villarreal can upset Napoli to progress to the knockout stage. Anything less will leave City playing in the second tier Europa League in the new year.

Mancini rated the sides' chances of qualification as "70 per cent to Napoli and 30 per cent to us" but nevertheless refused to give up hope. The Italian said: "Our target was to go into the second stage and at this moment we are depending on other teams.

"But in football anything can happen. If Villarreal play a serious match they can get a result. It is important we play our game against Bayern Munich."

City were undone by two goals from coveted Uruguay forward Edinson Cavani, who struck either side of a Mario Balotelli equaliser. Napoli claimed the lead in the 19th minute when Cavani's glancing header off an Ezequiel Lavezzi corner was deflected past Joe Hart.

Balotelli levelled before the break with a close-range tap-in after a David Silva shot was parried by Morgan de Sanctis. Napoli went back ahead four minutes into the second half when former Liverpool player Andrea Dossena teed up Cavani's second.

Mancini, whose side had won their nine previous games in all competitions, said: "I am disappointed about the result and I am sorry for the lads. I think we lost undeservedly. There is nothing to explain, we are a strong team and we always play well, we always play to win.

"But occasionally you can lose matches, especially in the Champions League."

Balotelli, who headed over in the second half and almost got on the end of dangerous Kolarov cross, was sick during the game.

Mancini admitted the controversial forward had been suffering from a fever but was incredulous at suggestions his illness related to a visit to a Neapolitan pizzeria on the eve of the game. He said: "He has a small fever, it is nothing serious. He had my permission to see his girlfriend for half an hour - it was only to say hello to his girlfriend in a pizzeria. He did not have a pizza."

Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson, meanwhile, was upbeat in his assessment of his team’s performance against Benfica despite seeing them held to a 2-2 draw in their Group C clash at Old Trafford.

The Portuguese visitors took a shock lead in the fourth minute through Phil Jones’ own goal but United equalised on the half-hour when Dimitar Berbatov — in the team in place of Wayne Rooney, who was nursing a hip problem — headed in Nani’s centre.

Darren Fletcher put the hosts in front 14 minutes after the break, only for Pablo Aimar to draw things level again seconds later, leaving Ferguson’s men needing a point from their trip to Basle next month to qualify for the last 16 — and their chances of winning the group looking slim.

The Scot, though, felt his side deserved more for their efforts.

“I think we did well,” Ferguson said. “It is hard when you lose a goal straight away in a match and it took us a bit of a while to get our rhythm going again, but once we did we played really well.

“We didn’t deserve what happened tonight, but football can be like that. If we had had just a few minutes after we had scored the second goal I think we would have been okay, but it was too early to lose that second goal.”

Asked about Rooney’s condition, Ferguson said: “He wasn’t fit for tonight, so we need to wait to see what he is like over the next few days. We will give him every chance, of course — we did for today, but he wasn’t really fit, so we’ll just have to wait.”