De Bruyne strikes in Napoli's strong start as Milan sunk by Cremonese

Kevin De Bruyne scored on his Napoli debut on Saturday as the Serie A champions kicked off their title defence with a straightforward 2-0 win at promoted Sassuolo, while Luka Modric and AC Milan fell to a shock 2-1 home defeat to Cremonese.

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The headline signing of the summer transfer window in Italy, De Bruyne opened his account for Napoli in the 57th minute when his free-kick swept in from the left flank and evaded everyone before nestling in the far corner.

"Of course it’s a nice moment, I just tried to put the ball in the right space you know and I think I put it in a dangerous space so if anyone touched it... now in this case nobody, it just went in. It's nice to start this way,” said De Bruyne to DAZN.

De Bruyne, 34, is in Italy after a decade at Manchester City during which he won six Premier League titles and in 2023 the Champions League. “It's a different way of working, a different way of playing and I saw that today. I think I still have to adjust a bit and do better,” added De Bruyne.

“It was a good start as a team but I think we can play better, individually and collectively.”