Made in Manchester: De Bruyne and McTominay lead Napoli to a 2-0 win over Sassuolo
MILAN (AP) — Napoli’s former Premier League players lit up Serie A on the opening day of the new season on Saturday.
Kevin De Bruyne netted in his debut and Scott McTominay scored the opener as Antonio Conte’s team kicked off its Serie A title defense with a comfortable 2-0 win at Serie B champion Sassuolo.
Massimiliano Allegri’s return to AC Milan got off to a dismal start as the Rossoneri lost 2-1 at home to newly promoted Cremonese. Gian Piero Gasperini’s first match in charge of Roma ended in a 1-0 victory over Bologna.
McTominay joined Napoli from Manchester United last year in a move that was so successful he ended up being named Serie A player of the year.
And the 28-year-old picked up where he left off last season by scoring Napoli’s first goal of the new campaign in the 17th minute, peeling away from his marker to head Matteo Politano’s cross from the right into the top near corner.
McTominay also sent a fierce effort crashing off the crossbar in first-half stoppage time, while Politano hit the post before Napoli doubled its lead in somewhat strange circumstances.
De Bruyne whipped in a free kick from wide on the left — practically on the touchline — and it went over everyone in the area before bouncing on the ground and going into the far bottom corner.
The 34-year-old De Bruyne, a two-time Premier League player of the season, joined Napoli in June on a free transfer after 10 years at Manchester City.
Sassuolo ended the match with 10 men after midfielder Ismaël Koné was sent off following a second yellow card, with 11 minutes remaining.
Spectacular goal
Cremonese marked its return to the Italian top flight with a first ever victory over Milan at San Siro thanks to an early contender for goal of the season from Federico Bonazzoli.
The 28-year-old Bonazzoli, who started his career at Inter Milan, scored what was to prove the winner in the 61st minute with an acrobatic, overhead kick into the bottom corner.
Strahinja Pavlovic had headed in the equalizer in first-half stoppage time to cancel out Federico Baschirotto’s 28th-minute opener.
Allegri, who left Milan in 2014, rejoined the Rossoneri at the end of May to replace the fired Sergio Conceicao.
Gasperini era begins
Wesley scored in his Serie A debut to give Gasperini a strong start to his Roma career.
The Brazil defender, who joined from Flamengo in July, brought down a long ball over the top and cut inside where he appeared to be intercepted by Jhon Lucumí but the Bologna defender only succeeded in prodding the ball back into the path of Wesley, who fired across into the bottom left corner.
Bologna lost both Ciro Immobile and Nicoló Casale to injuries in the first half.
Elsewhere, Genoa drew 0-0 at home to Lecce.
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By DANIELLA MATAR
AP Sports Writer
