Napoli stroll to 3-1 win at Fiorentina in Serie A as Rasmus Hojlund scores on debut
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New Napoli foward Rasmus Hojlund scoring on his debut in the 3-1 win away to Fiorentina at the Artemio Franchi on Sept 13 in Serie A.
PHOTO: EPA
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FLORENCE – Napoli strolled to a comfortable 3-1 win at Fiorentina on Sept 13, with Rasmus Hojlund showing his “great potential” by scoring on his debut, as the defending champions continued their perfect start to the season and moved back to the top of the Serie A standings.
Hojlund, unwanted by Manchester United, was a deadline-day loan signing by Napoli, desperate for a striker after Romelu Lukaku’s injury, and the former Atalanta man marked his return to Serie A with a dream debut for Antonio Conte’s side at the Artemio Franchi.
Conte has already turned around the fortunes of another United outcast, Scott McTominay, with the Scottish midfielder named Serie A’s player of last season, and on this display, the Napoli coach looks to have already worked his magic on the Dane.
“Hojlund is only 22 years old, we got him from Manchester United, seeing as it brought us luck doing that with McTominay,” joked Conte. “We knew his qualities, he has great potential and can improve. You can see he’s a lad with great prospects.”
Napoli are top on nine points, ahead of Juventus – who defeated Inter Milan 4-3 earlier on Sept 13 – on goal difference. Fiorentina remain on two points after three games.
Fiorentina goalkeeper David de Gea saved a shot from Giovanni di Lorenzo in the sixth minute and Robin Gosens cleared Hojlund’s follow-up effort, but Pietro Comuzzo then fouled Frank Anguissa to concede a penalty.
Kevin de Bruyne stepped up and sent de Gea the wrong way to give Napoli the lead.
The visitors doubled their advantage eight minutes later after a defence-splitting pass from Leonardo Spinazzola sent Hojlund racing into the area and the Dane coolly slotted the ball past de Gea.
“I’m very happy with the goal,” Hojlund told Sky Sport Italia. “Today we won an important match, and I’m really glad I scored and to be part of this incredible team.”
Napoli threatened to run riot, with Hojlund laying a pass back to de Bruyne in the area, but this time de Gea made a fine save from the Belgian’s deflected effort and the hosts went in 2-0 down at the break.
Six minutes after the interval, Napoli made it three with another debut goal. Matteo Politano forced de Gea into a point-blank save and from the resulting corner, Anguissa’s pullback was tapped in by Sam Beukema inside the box.
While Napoli conceded their first goal of the season when Luca Ranieri pulled one back for Fiorentina with 11 minutes left, they came away with a well deserved three points after an impressive performance in Florence.
Napoli, who did not have the distraction of European football last season, begin their Champions League campaign with an away trip to Manchester City on Sept 18.
“Everybody is going to play a lot of minutes, because we’re in a lot of tournaments with a lot of games,” Hojlund added.
Earlier, a stunning strike in stoppage time of the Derby d’Italia from teenage substitute Vasilije Adzic put Juve on nine points from their first three matches.
Adzic’s strike overshadowed the contribution from France’s Thuram brothers, Juve’s Khephren and Inter’s Marcus, who netted for each team under the gaze of their iconic father Lilian Thuram, who watched on from the Allianz Stadium stands. REUTERS, AFP
