TNT Sports were forced to issue an apology ahead of Manchester City's Champions League opener against Napoli as their broadcast suffered technical problems. Kevin de Bruyne, along with former Manchester United pair Rasmus Hojlund and Scott McTominay, were aiming to derail City's prospects of a strong beginning in Europe's premier competition.

Nevertheless, the broadcaster's pre-match coverage at the Etihad Stadium was disrupted by a glitch that resulted in TNT Sports 1 predominantly showing Newcastle United versus Barcelona instead. The mishap happened at approximately 7.15pm just after Gianluigi Donnarumma's interview, causing several minutes of the north-east build-up to be broadcast by mistake.

A message appeared on screen stating: "We apologise for the technical difficulties. We return to Man City vs Napoli on TNT 2 shortly." Just after 7.31pm, normal service resumed, showing the City squad coming out for their warm-up.

Presenter Reshmin Chowdhury announced: "Hello welcome back everybody, we did have to leave you for a short while due to technical issues but we're back and so are they.

"This is the Etihad, and this is Manchester City taking on Italian champions Napoli in their opener of this season's league phase. It pits Pep Guardiola against Antonio Conte - what a match this will be. There will be some familiar faces to Manchester, as well."

City went into the match looking to copy Premier League rivals Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham by winning their first European game of the season.

Pep Guardiola's side went into their Champions League opener fresh from a Manchester derby triumph over Manchester United, running out 3-0 winners against their neighbours.

They are looking to go one better in Europe this season having lost in the play-off round to Spanish giants Real Madrid last season.