Ederson kept us in it – Walker relieved after City´s second-half wobble

Kyle Walker paid tribute to Ederson after the Manchester City goalkeeper starred in their 2-1 Champions League win over Napoli.

City now sit on the brink of the knockout stages, but they were thankful to Ederson for a penalty save from Dries Mertens after Pep Guardiola’s men had raced into a two-goal lead.

Although the Premier League leaders dominated the first half, they were ultimately made to hold on for three points after Amadou Diawara converted a second spot-kick and Napoli pushed for an equaliser.

While Walker and his team-mates had expected the onslaught, he still felt the need to thank Ederson for his contribution as the keeper delivered an all-action display.

“We always knew they would come at us in the second half, with us going 2-0 up,” Walker told BT Sport.

“I thought the lads showed good character out there. Ederson has kept us in it and we need to say a big thanks to him.”

EDERSON pic.twitter.com/WUAANosr9v

— Benjamin Mendy (@benmendy23) October 17, 2017

Despite a nervy second half, John Stones was pleased with the way City played against a side who sit top of Serie A with a perfect record after eight games.

“There were a lot of runners in behind,” the defender added. “We knew they had great, patient football, a lot of one-touch passing, setting the ball, a great attacking threat.

“They’ve played a lot of great teams in the Champions League and won. We knew it was going to be a tough test, them coming here.

“We wanted to play our game and some of the football was great to watch. We’re upset to concede the goal that we did. I thought it was a bit soft. But it was a great team performance.”

City require just one point in the return fixture to seal their progression to the last 16 and Stones added: “We’ve put ourselves in a good position with a lot of games to play still.

“We’ve got to keep going, game by game. This was a great test to see where we’re at after a good run of hard games.”