Not willing to hand Allegri an easy start to his tenure, Genoa began brightly. Morten Frendrup wasn’t far from the spectacular with his 30-yard volley, and from the resulting goal kick, Napoli surrendered possession to Vitinha, whose fizzing effort flew narrowly wide.
The visitors weathered the early storm, but Genoa were soon on top again, as Tommaso Baldanzi’s shot needed a vital block before Alex Amorim struck an effort straight at Alex Meret. With half-time approaching, Gli Azzurri finally sparked into life as Alisson Santos cut in from the left and fired his side’s first real effort into the side netting, shortly before Leonardo Spinazzola caught a half-clearance well on the volley, forcing Justin Bijlow to remain alert.
These two teams were separated by 14 places last season, yet they remained inseparable after Bijlow clutched a Scott McTominay drive in the 63rd minute – the first effort on goal after the break. The introduction of Kevin De Bruyne from the bench only increased Napoli’s control, and when his corner was worked across to McTominay, the Scotsman drilled the ball across the face of goal, where the outstretched Rasmus Højlund was unable to make contact.
Approaching the final 10 minutes, Junior Messias earned the Grifone some respite with a mazy run which began in his own half, eventually being halted at the edge of the Napoli box, where Djibril Sow picked up the loose ball and sent an effort into the side netting.
That proved costly for the hosts, as Napoli took the lead two minutes later. De Bruyne played an audacious one-two with Antonio Vergara to work his way into the box, where he shrugged off his marker and fired past Bijlow.
Genoese protests for a foul by the Belgian had barely subsided when De Bruyne set up Napoli’s second, as his low cross was cleverly left by Lorenzo Lucca, allowing Vergara to squeeze the ball over the line despite the best efforts of Sebastian Otoa.
Those strikes increased Napoli’s first-day record to nine wins in the last 10 years, while Genoa have now won one of the last 27 H2H matches in Serie A.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Amir Rrahmani (Napoli)
