Rome: Edinson Cavani scored a brace as Napoli won 2-1 to leave Manchester City’s hopes to progress in Champions League hang in balance.
The Italian side moved back into the second spot of Group A after the Uruguayan striker netted goals on either side of a Mario Balotelli equaliser.
The English Premiership leaders had several chances in an eventful game but Marek Hamsik also hit the post for the hosts, who dominated for long spells, Xinhua reported.
The victory meant Napoli’s qualification for the Champions League knockouts depends on their final game with Villarreal.
The Manchester City will now have to win their final game against group winners Bayern Munich and rely on a favour from winless Villarreal against Napoli to progress.
Roberto Mancini, Manchester City manager, insisted that his side “should believe” they can qualify despite the defeat to Napoli.
“We have another game and I think we should believe. I don’t think Villarreal will finish with 0 points and we have one more chance, though it’s clear it depends on the other team,” the manager told Sky Sports.
“I don’t think that we deserved to lose this game, but at the same time we have to think we can’t score three or four goals in each game,” he said.
Cavani opened the scoring in the 19th minute when he met Ezequiel Lavezzi’s set-piece with a glancing header and the ball found a way past Hart at his near post.
It took some time for City to regain a measure of possession after falling behind but one steady move ended with David Silva screwing a shot well wide.
City pressed again and levelled after 32 minutes when a poor clearance from Paolo Cannavaro went straight to Silva, who fired straight at Morgan de Sanctis. The keeper parried but only as far as Balotelli, who gratefully tapped in from close range.
What had been hard work to get back into the game was undone four minutes into the second half as Napoli regained the lead.
The visitors were caught out down their right as Andrea Dossena managed to get behind Pablo Zabaleta and pull back for Cavani in front of goal.
Inter top group after draw at Trabzonspor: Inter Milan, already through to the Champions League last 16, topped Group B thanks to a 1-1 draw at Trabzonspor despite a flurry of chances for the Turkish side.
Ricardo Alvarez put Inter ahead on 18 minutes but Halil Altintop replied five minutes later for Trabzon who had stunned the Italians with a 1-0 win in their Champions League debut at the San Siro in September.
Inter had already qualified for the next stage thanks to Lille’s 2-0 win at CSKA Moscow earlier on Tuesday but second place is up for grabs heading into the final round of matches.
Trabzonspor have six points with their two rivals for second place on five going into next month’s fixtures when the Turks visit French champions Lille while CSKA travel to Inter. (Agencies)