THE NEW all-singing, all-dancing Manchester City made their return to Europe’s top competition last night, 43 years after Colin Bell, Mike Summerbee, Francis Lee, Neil Young and their colleagues experienced an unexpectedly swift elimination at the first time of asking in the European Cup.

Whereas Joe Mercer’s team had anticipated translating a recently won league title into something even more remarkable, Roberto Mancini’s side may be thinking in terms of missing out the intervening stage, or perhaps even of completing both simultaneously.

After two years of rebuilding under a new owner whose riches would make Croesus jealous, City possess all the components they need to achieve their ambitions, and in Mancini they have a manager who seems to have moved beyond the conservatism of his first season and a half to embrace a more positive approach. The Italian reached the European Cup final as a player with Sampdoria in 1992, earning a runners-up medal as Barcelona won by the only goal at Wembley, but his record as a coach in the Champions League is less distinguished. Despite being furnished with considerable resources at Internazionale, he could do no better than elimination by Milan and Villarreal in consecutive quarter-finals, followed by defeats at the hands of Valencia and Liverpool in the round of 16. The last of those reverses, in February 2008, was to cost him his job at the end of the season.

Faced with Italian opponents last night, Mancini showed no sign of reverting to stereotype by opting for the sort of safety-first tactics that, until the past few weeks, appeared to comprise his default mode. With Sergio Aguero and Samir Nasri added to Edin Dzeko and David Silva, and with Carlos Tevez simmering on the bench, there could be no excuse for anything other than a commitment to attack, particularly when confronting opponents themselves rich in attacking talent, with a forward line led by an Uruguayan striker, the tall, long-haired Edinson Cavani, who was Serie A’s top scorer last season, with 26 goals in 37 league appearances.

There were other parallels between the two clubs, apart from their light blue colours. Founded only a few years apart – Napoli, as it happens, by an English employee of the Cunard shipping company – they have both won their respective championship twice, have both won one European competition, and both became the first of their country’s clubs with a European title to descend to the third tier of their national leagues, albeit only for a single season in each case.

Equally, they qualified for this season’s Champions League by finishing third in the Premier League and Serie A. And both, of course, have featured a member of the Maradona family – albeit, in the City shirt, only a relative by marriage.

City played a patient game, with the interpassing of Silva and Nasri aimed at creating the decisive opening for Aguero or Dzeko. To the surprise of most of the stadium, however, it was Napoli who created the best of the early chances when Ezequiel Lavezzi drifted past Vincent Kompany to strike a sidefooted shot against Joe Hart’s crossbar.

Aguero emulated his fellow Argentinian’s effort later in the first half, running on to Dzeko’s return pass to hit the underside of Morgan De Sanctis’s bar, but it was Napoli who had the next clear chance when Kompany blocked Marek Hamsik’s shot on the line four minutes into the second period.

Perhaps City had allowed themselves to forget how dangerous the visitors could be on the counterattack when Barry played a wretchedly loose backheel a few yards outside the Napoli area in the 68th minute and could only watch as Maggio broke away at top speed.

With Hamsik to his left and Cavani to his right, he opted for a simple ball into the path of the Uruguayan, who sent his shot under Hart. Six minutes later, however, Aleksandar Kolarov brought the scores level with a beautifully struck 30-yard free-kick.

City were not the swarmingly inventive force they have looked in their recent league fixtures. To have given away a goal so cheaply was cause for self-examination, but to stage an immediate fightback at least allowed them to feel that they had passed a test of character.