Series A: Former rivals in Manchester McTominay, De Bruyne combine for the victory of Napoli; Cremonese Verbijstert AC Milan

Napoli launched his Serie A season in style with a 2-0 win in Sassuolo on Saturday when Scott McTominay was driven in a first half before Kevin De Bruyne curled a free kick after the break.

The ruling champion underwent a less than ideal structure of the new season, with striker Romelu Lukaku set aside by injury and Lorenzo Lucca who stepped in as the only attacker.

However, it was the midfield, led by De Bruyne, that took control, where the Belgian created an early chance in the opening minute and dictated the pace for most of the competition.

Colleague midfielder McTominay, the most valuable player of last season, did not waste time making his stamp and drives a header in the network of Matteo Politano’s Curling Cross after just 17 minutes to fire Napoli.

«We told ourselves that we would start with this mentality, the three points would get at a difficult pitch, and that is the most important thing,» McTominay told Brodcaster Dazn After the game.

Sassuolo seemed determined to prove itself between the elite of Italian football and repeatedly tested the Napoli defense during the first half, but it was McTominay who came closest to adding a second for the visiting side when his effort rattled the bar just before the break.

Napoli dominated the second half, with Politano storing the post early and Lucca was unable to convert the rebound.

New signing De Bruyne doubled the advantage after 57 minutes and bend a free kick from a tight corner over the busy box and in the far bottom corner.

«It is an honor to have De Bruyne in the team. I am not the one who has to learn from him,» said Mctominay.

Sassuolo’s Serie A Return took another recession when Ismael Kone was shown a second yellow card just a few minutes from time for an error on Lucca, allowing the host side to end with 10 men.

AC Milan humiliated by Cremonese

AC Milan has passed the worst possible start of his Serie A campaign and on Saturday to a 1-2 home defeat against newly promoted Cremonese.

Despite the controlling of a large part of the game, the defensive weaknesses and expensive mistakes of Milan Cremones enabled to capitalize, so that only his second Serie A victory in San Siro was once obtained.

Santiago Gimenez believed that he had opened the Milan competition fee early in the game, but his effort was excluded from offside.

Instead, it was Cremonese who grabbed the chance to put pressure on an unorganized Milan, forcing keeper Mike Maignan in a full-stretch save to refuse Federico Bonazzoli.

The breakthrough came in the 28th minute when the defense of Milan was eliminated from a Cremonese corner, the clearance that fell to Alessio Zerbin, who hit the box for an unmarked Federico Baschirotto to thunder a header past Maignan and thunder the visitors in front.

Milan finally hit deeply in the first half of the stopping time, while Pervis Estupinan ran to the name rule and held a smart chip over the Cremonese defense, making Strahinja Pavlovic free to go home the equalizer from a close distance.

Broken by a passionate home crowd, Milan opened the second half with a barrage of efforts on the Cremonese goal, but was repeatedly refused by goalkeeper Emil Audero.

Just as Milan seemed to take control, Cremonese gained a goal in the 61st minute when Giuseppe Pezzella made a high ball in the box for Bonazzoli, who silenced San Siro with a stunning overhead shovel in the net to seal the victory.

In the other late match, AS Roma started his campaign on a positive note, giving manager Gian Piero Gasperini a winning start with a 1-0 home victory on Bologna, sealed by Wesley Franca’s 53rd-Minute strike.

Published on August 24, 2025