Hojlund nets twice as Napoli beat Sporting Lisbon and Genoa

Rasmus Hojlund struck twice as Napoli beat Sporting Lisbon 2-1 at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on Wednesday to register their first points of this season's Champions League, and the Denmark forward followed up by scoring the winner in Napoli's 2-1 Serie A victory over Genoa on Sunday. Both European goals came from Kevin De Bruyne assists and have accelerated Hojlund's bright start since joining Napoli on loan from Manchester United.

In Naples, De Bruyne threaded a defence-splitting pass for Hojlund to finish calmly in the 36th minute. Sporting levelled in the 62nd minute when Matteo Politano fouled Maximiliano Araújo and Luis Suárez converted the penalty. Napoli regained the lead in the 79th minute as De Bruyne swung in a cross that Hojlund met with a glancing header to beat goalkeeper Rui Silva. Sporting pressed late and Vanja Milinković-Savić produced a reflex save to deny Morten Hjulmand a stoppage-time equaliser.

De Bruyne provided both assists and was influential across the match. After the game he said, "Rasmus has a lot of quality and as a striker when you go forward you need that smell of goals. I think Rasmus is growing a lot and is very similar to Erling Haaland....