Napoli beats Frosinone 3-0 with De Bruyne brace

Napoli defeated Frosinone 3-0 at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on Saturday, moving to a 3-4-3 system with Benoit Badiashile making his first start. Kevin De Bruyne converted a retaken penalty in the 29th minute and added a second in stoppage time to complete his brace. Noa Lang scored the second goal in the 32nd minute, tapping in after Giovanni Di Lorenzo's shot was parried.

Rasmus Hojlund originally won and took the first penalty but saw his effort saved by Lorenzo Palmisani. VAR ordered a retake for goalkeeper encroachment, prompting coach Massimiliano Allegri to order De Bruyne to take the kick instead. Hojlund later hit the post and missed a second penalty attempt before being substituted.

“Hojlund came over and said 'sorry coach, but De Bruyne gave me the ball.' I told him 'Then you should've given it back again.'”

Scott McTominay returned to action as a substitute a month after surgery for cardiac arrhythmia, while David Neres and Lorenzo Spinazzola also recovered from injury. Frosinone entered the match three points ahead of Napoli but were without Florian Grillitsch and Daniel Birligea.

Allegri praised his team's early aggression but noted they failed to convert several good chances. He revealed he is trying to convince De Bruyne to accept a new tactical role, though the player "doesn't like it very much." The coach joked that Hojlund should have given the ball back to De Bruyne after the Belgian initially handed him the penalty.