Football Wrap: Napoli cruise past Sassuolo, Cremonese stun AC Milan, Barcelona fight back to beat Levante

New Delhi: Defending champions Napoli defeated Sassuolo 2-0 comfortably in their opening game of the Serie A 2025/26 season. Scotland midfielder Scott McTominay and Belgian midfielder Kevin de Bruyne scored goals to help the club win three points, while Cremonese stunned AC Milan 2-1 in the opener.

Baschirotto and Bonazzoli netted goals for Cremonese to help them secure all three points. Defending La Liga champions Barcelona made a stellar comeback in the second half to beat Levante 3-2. Pedri, Torres and an own goal from Elgezabai help them win all three points.

Sassuolo 0-2 Napoli

Napoli kicked off their 2025-26 Serie A campaign with a comfortable victory against newly-promoted Sassuolo at MAPEI Stadium on Saturday. The defending champions wasted no time, with De Bruyne registering a shot in just 26 seconds of the game. They dominated the match and finally got their reward when last season’s MVP, McTominay, scored a goal in the 17th minute.

Matteo Politano was given space on the right side to deliver a perfect cross, which the midfielder met with a well-timed header, squeezing it past Stefano Turati at the near post. De Bruyne doubled Napoli’s lead in the 57th minute with a free-kick nestled into the bottom-right corner as the club secured all three points against Sassuolo.

AC Milan 1-2 Cremonese

AC Milan suffered a disappointing 1-2 defeat against the newly-promoted Cremonese at San Siro on Saturday. Massimiliano Allegri took charge of the club in the league for the first time since his return, while Luka Modric also started. The Rossoneri got a couple of good chances in the first 20 minutes, with Santiago Gimenez’s shot being deflected by Baschirotto for a corner, and his second attempt in the 19th minute was ruled out for offside. Cremonese broke the deadlock to score the first goal through Baschirotto, who was left unmarked, and scored from a pinpoint cross by Zerbin.

AC Milan struggled to give a strong response, but kept control of the match and threatened again in the 44th minute. They managed to equalise in the stoppage time as Saelemaekers picked out Estupinan, beating Zerbin down the right, whose cross was met with a well-placed header by Pavlović.

The Rossoneri started the second half with great intensity, but the visitors managed to restore their lead in the 61st minute as Bonazzoli netted a stunning goal from Pezzella’s cross. AC Milan pressed forward in the final 30 minutes but failed to find the net with Cremonese holding strong until the final whistle.

Levante 2-3 Barcelona

Defending La Liga champions Barcelona made a stunning comeback and defeated Levante to secure three points. Ivan Romero netted the first goal of the match in the 15th minute from Jeremy Toljan’s cross and finished calmly past Joan Garcia.

Jose Luis Morales doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time from the penalty spot after Alejandro Balde was deemed to have handled the ball. Just five minutes into the second half, Pedri scored a sensational goal from outside the area. Barcelona levelled the score at 2-2 in the 52nd minute with a brilliant volley from Torres off a set piece. They took the lead in the stoppage time with an own goal from defender Unai Elgezabal and secured three points.