The new Serie A season was 17 minutes old and already it had started to look like the previous one: Matteo Politano crossing and Scott McTominay scoring, just as they did in Napoli’s title-sealing victory over Cagliari three months ago. Even their positions were practically identical, the Italian cutting in from the right as the Scotsman attacked the six-yard box.
McTominay’s finish was less dramatic this time around, a header instead of a scissor-kick, but he dispatched it with equal conviction. Serie A’s Most Valuable Player in 2024-25, scoring the league’s first goal of 2025-26. “Winning the Scudetto changes nothing,” he had said in one interview earlier this month. “We need to recapture and maintain that mentality we found last year.”
Talk about living your values. McTominay led by furious example, covering ground and menacing Sassuolo’s defence. After scoring, it was he who broke up the Neroverdi’s attempted response, he who took the next shot and he again who rattled the crossbar with an effort from outside the box. McTominay later attempted to return the favour for Politano with a low centre, but his teammate’s shot was deflected on to a post.
This was supposed to be a day to marvel at Kevin De Bruyne’s Serie A debut. Napoli’s signing of the Belgium international, and two-time Premier League player of the year, was this summer’s biggest transfer coup. Even in pre-season, his presence drew sellout crowds to sleepy towns for uncompetitive friendlies. De Bruyne confessed to finding it all “a bit weird”.
Perhaps McTominay has helped him to settle. The Naples-published newspaper Il Mattino reported them as being “inseparable”. They certainly appear to have acquired an on-pitch understanding, rotating positions seamlessly on Saturday in a more liquid Napoli formation than the ones we watched for most of last season.
Notionally, this was a 4-1-4-1, with McTominay flanking De Bruyne on the left, Politano outside Frank Anguissa on the right and Stanislav Lobotka shielding the defence. In practice, McTominay, De Bruyne and the centre-forward Lorenzo Lucca swapped places regularly. The latter dropped so far at times that he wound up in places you might expect to find a full-back.
Was this design, or was Lucca trying too hard to show what he could do in the absence of an injured Romelu Lukaku? Who knows. What we can say is that De Bruyne played well and scored Napoli’s second goal, albeit slightly by accident.
His 57th-minute free-kick was swung into a dangerous area from the left touchline but sailed over the head of the 6ft 7ins Lucca. Sassuolo’s goalkeeper, Stefano Turati, hesitated, perhaps anticipating a touch, allowing the ball to hop past him into the net.
De Bruyne might have had an earlier assist, too, but Amir Rrahmani fired wide after being sent through on goal. If McTominay was still the star of Napoli’s show, the new Belgian cast member did shine in a supporting role.
The game ended 2-0, a confident start to the Partenopei’s title defence. Sassuolo, Serie B champions last season, had lined up with a trio of proven goalscorers in Domenico Berardi, Andrea Pinamonti and Armand Laurienté. None of them got a sniff.
Even in post-game remarks, Napoli’s players were reading from the same script. De Bruyne said he was adjusting to a “very different way of working in Italy” but insisted that “I need to adapt to them, not them to me”. McTominay laughed off the suggestion he might have tips for his new teammate, saying: “He doesn’t need any advice. I need advice from him!”
August is not a time for sweeping conclusions. We do not even know what some teams will look like by the time the transfer window shuts next week. Napoli themselves are in the market for another forward. Several managers expressed frustration over the weekend at starting the season knowing their squads are not yet settled.
Still, there are better and worse ways to begin. If De Bruyne got off to a perfect start, the same could not be said of Luka Modric at Milan. Expectations were always more modest for a player who will celebrate his 40th birthday next month, but the former Ballon d’Or winner went straight into the starting lineup for the Rossoneri’s game at home to Cremonese.
His own performance was solid. For the 74 minutes he was on the pitch, Modric had the ball more than any other player, doing his best to conduct an orchestra of out-of-tune instruments. Even the sounds from the stands were discordant at San Siro, ultra groups staying silent in a protest over a ticketing dispute and allowing Cremonese’s visiting support to be loudest.
Genoa 0-0 Lecce, Sassuolo 0-2 Napoli, Milan 1-2 Cremonese, Roma 1-0 Bologna, Cagliari 1-1 Fiorentina, Como 2-0 Lazio, Atalanta 1-1 Pisa, Juventus 2-0 Parma.
Milan had plenty of shots but few clear chances. Their newly promoted opponents soaked up pressure and struck decisively on the counter. Not content with dominating Santiago Giménez in defence, the Cremonese centre-back Federico Baschirotto showed up at the other end to head in an opening goal in the 28th minute.
Something of a cult figure in Italian football, famous for his bodybuilder physique and Arnold Schwarzenegger-inspired celebrations, Baschirotto stopped to pose as he jogged back up the pitch. He is fast acquiring a different reputation, as the man who helps smaller clubs to reach heights unknown.
Baschirotto joined this summer from Lecce, whom he helped to stave off relegation for three consecutive seasons – securing their longest stay in the top flight. Now he would lift Cremonese – the club from whose academy he graduated a little more than a decade ago – toward their first ever opening-round win. In all their previous eight Serie A campaigns, dating back 96 years, they had always begun with a defeat.
More astonishing than an eventual 2-1 scoreline was the swagger. After Milan equalised through Strahinja Pavlovic, Cremonese responded with an outrageous winner. Baschirotto, inexplicably attacking the hosts’ penalty area yet again, served a backheel pass to Giuseppe Pezzella, who crossed for Federico Bonazzoli to score with a magnificent scissor-kick.
“The first match is always complicated,” said Massimiliano Allegri afterward. This is not the homecoming he had hoped for on his return to managing the Rossoneri, 14 years after he led them to a Serie A title.
A contradicting verdict came from Bonazzoli. “As an Inter fan, a goal against Milan counts double,” he quipped. The greatest joys in football are often the simplest.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Como | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 2 | Juventus | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 3 | Napoli | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 4 | Cremonese | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 5 | Roma | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 6 | Atalanta | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | Cagliari | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | Fiorentina | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | Pisa | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | Genoa | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | Lecce | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | Inter Milan | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | Torino | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | Udinese | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | Verona | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | AC Milan | 1 | -1 | 0 |
| 17 | Bologna | 1 | -1 | 0 |
| 18 | Lazio | 1 | -2 | 0 |
| 19 | Parma | 1 | -2 | 0 |
| 20 | Sassuolo | 1 | -2 | 0 |
