Serie A | Fiorentina 1-3 Napoli: Hojlund scores on perfect debut

Rasmus Hojlund scored on his debut after the move from Manchester United, as Napoli comfortably swept Fiorentina aside 3-1 with a Kevin De Bruyne penalty and Sam Beukema tap-in.

The Partenopei won both opening fixtures, albeit needing a last-gasp goal to beat Cagliari in Week 2. Amir Rrahmani joined Miguel Gutierrez and Romelu Lukaku on the treatment table, so Beukema and Hojlund got their first starts. The Viola stuttered in the Conference League play-offs, then drew both Serie A games with Cagliari and Torino. Albert Gudmundsson and Christian Kouame were not fully fit, with Hans Nicolussi Caviglia and Tariq Lamptey on the bench for the first time.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

It was a very aggressive start from Napoli, as Giovanni Di Lorenzo got down the left and tried to set up Scott McTominay, denied by a desperate double clearance off the line from David De Gea and Robin Gosens, but then Pietro Comuzzo clattered into the back of Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa for a penalty. Kevin De Bruyne stepped up and sent De Gea the wrong way to convert.

Hojlund made the perfect start to his Napoli career, sneaking up behind Marin Pongracic on the Leonardo Spinazzola through ball and drawing out De Gea to score from a tight angle with a delicate snooker shot off the inside of the far post.

It took until the 19^th minute for Fiorentina to make any impact, Rolando Mandragora’s finish deflected wide from eight yards after Moise Kean got it stuck under his feet.

De Gea reacted quickly to get one hand to a deflected De Bruyne strike set up by the Hojlund lay-off, but Di Lorenzo risked an own goal with a crucial interception to prevent Kean tapping in the Dodo roll across to the back post.

Kean drilled just wide from the edge of the area, then after the restart Hojlund on the counter set up Politano to force a De Gea save at the near post.

The resulting Politano corner was flicked on to the back stick, where Anguissa managed to keep it in play, pulling it back from the by-line for Beukema’s tap-in for 3-0. This too was his first goal in the Napoli jersey.

It was nearly 4-0 when De Gea got down to parry the deflected McTominay effort one-handed, Politano firing the rebound onto the base of the near post.

Kean and Anguissa turned over from promising positions, while Vanja Milinkovic-Savic pushed a Rolando Mandragora free kick over the bar.

Fiorentina did get one back when a Nicolussi Caviglia corner was flicked on by Lorenzo Lucca to the back post for Luca Ranieri to drill hard and low, surprising Milinkovic-Savic.

Suddenly, the Viola were fired up with Comuzzo’s header deflected off Alessandro Buongiorno, then on the resulting corner Milinkovic-Savic pushed the Jacopo Fazzini bouncing volley out from the far top corner.

Moments later, Fazzini’s inspired ball sent Piccoli clear, forcing Milinkovic-Savic to parry with an outstretched leg one-on-one. Gosens then saw his glancing header flash inches wide from another Nicolussi Caviglia corner.

David Neres went on a strong run to lay it off for Eljif Elmas, forcing a De Gea save with one boot from close range.

Fiorentina 1-3 Napoli

De Bruyne pen 6 (N), Hojlund 14 (N), Beukema 51 (N), Ranieri 79 (F)