Allegri's Napoli were going nowhere at Marassi — then De Bruyne came on

Massimiliano Allegri's first competitive night as Napoli coach was, for eighty minutes, exactly the kind of game he has spent a career being accused of enjoying. Goalless. Tidy. Nothing much happening at either end of the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.

Then the bench solved it. Kevin De Bruyne, held back after his summer with Belgium, came on and settled the whole thing inside five minutes. 🇧🇪

Two goals in five minutes

At 82', De Bruyne got in front of Johan Vásquez, took Antonio Vergara's touch inside the six-yard box and finished from close range. Genoa were furious — they wanted a foul on Vásquez, and Vásquez himself seemed to stop expecting the whistle. It never came, and the goal stood.

Five minutes later De Bruyne swung a low ball across the face of goal and Vergara arrived to convert it. 0-2, and a first half that had produced nothing suddenly looked like a long time ago.

Daniele De Rossi's Genoa were not overrun. They had 46% of the ball and 11 shots against Napoli's 13, and the expected goals split almost evenly — 0.66 to 0.75. The difference was that Napoli got four attempts on target and Genoa got two, and one of those four fell to the best passer on the pitch standing seven yards out.

Allegri started McTominay, Rasmus Højlund and Alisson Santos and got very little from the front of the team. He will not mind much. Three points in the opener, a clean sheet, and the reminder that De Bruyne is the sort of substitute most of Serie A cannot make.

One win, two defeats since

Napoli did not build on it. Eight days later, at home to Como, they trailed 2-0 inside 34 minutes — Martin Baturina finishing a cutback from Assane Diao on 17', Rasmus Højlund levelling on 30', then Anastasios Douvikas restoring the lead four minutes on after Napoli lost the ball playing out from the back. It finished 2-1 to Cesc Fàbregas's side, Allegri's first defeat as Napoli coach. Six days after that, at San Siro, the same shape showed up in reverse: Napoli led 2-0 through Matteo Politano and Højlund early in the second half, only for Lautaro Martínez and Marcus Thuram to drag Inter level and then in front, Lautaro completing his brace in the first minute of stoppage time to win it 3-2. Two defeats in the next two matches leave Napoli 11th in Serie A after three rounds, on three points from one win, no draws and two losses, five goals scored and five conceded for a goal difference of zero.

Genoa still searching for a point

Genoa's season has not improved either. Lazio won 1-0 at the Olimpico through a 25th-minute Davide Frattesi goal, Genoa managing only one shot on target despite 54% of the ball. Back at the Ferraris against Como, Milutin Osmajic gave the hosts an early lead, only for three goals in sixteen minutes — Baturina, Assane Diao and Nico Paz, either side of half-time — to turn the game around, and a second Diao goal after debutant Moise Kean's introduction sealed a 4-1 rout. Genoa are still without a point after three matchdays, bottom of the table with one goal scored and seven conceded, sitting in the relegation zone that opens at 18th.

Match facts

• 82' — Kevin De Bruyne (Napoli), assist Antonio Vergara
• 87' — Antonio Vergara (Napoli), assist Kevin De Bruyne
• Half-time: Genoa 0-0 Napoli
• Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa — Serie A matchday 1, Saturday 22 August 2026

What's next

Both clubs are now in the September international break before Serie A returns for matchday 4. Como, who beat both Napoli and Genoa in the meantime, sit third on seven points and in the Champions League places — a measure of how far this result already sits in the past. Napoli come back 11th and still searching for consistency under Allegri; Genoa come back bottom of the table, without a win in three matches and only one goal scored all season.