De Bruyne opens and closes the show as Napoli rout Frosinone 3-0

Kevin De Bruyne took care of opening and closing the show at the Diego Armando Maradona: the Belgian converted a penalty to break the deadlock and then, deep into stoppage time, added the third to put the finishing touches on a 3-0 Napoli win over Frosinone in Serie A.

The match stayed tight until the 24th minute, when Giorgio Cittadini fouled Rasmus Hojlund inside the box for a penalty. There was a VAR review before the kick was taken, but the call stood, and De Bruyne made no mistake, driving a right-footed shot into the right side of the net for the 1-0 in the 28th minute. Napoli didn't wait long to extend the lead: three minutes later, in the 31st minute, Noa Lang finished with his right foot from the center of the box to make it 2-0, on a play that came after a earlier shot from Di Lorenzo had been saved by the goalkeeper. With those two goals coming in the span of just four minutes, the first half ended with the result all but decided.

In the second half Frosinone tried to find a way back through Antonio Raimondo and, after he came on, Tomas Bobcek, both looking for chances in the air and from outside the box without finding the target. Napoli, who brought on Scott McTominay, Lorenzo Lucca, Billy Gilmour, Giovane and Matteo Politano, managed the game and created clear chances to pad the lead. The final blow came in stoppage time: in the 93rd minute, Giovane set up De Bruyne, who finished from close range into the middle of the goal to make it 3-0.

What the numbers say

Possession was split almost evenly, but Napoli was far sharper in front of goal: eight shots on target compared to just one for Frosinone tells much of the story.

The most telling number comes from the xG calculated after the fact based on the match's shots: 3.507 for Napoli against just 0.913 for Frosinone, a gap that confirms the home side won not just on the scoreboard but in quality of chances too.

What was expected and what happened

Heading into the match, our projections gave Napoli a 56% chance of winning, with 27% for a draw and 17% for Frosinone, alongside a combined expected goals total of 2.51 (1.67 for Napoli and 0.84 for Frosinone). The result fell in line with the favoritism we gave the home side, though the final scoreline exceeded the number of goals we projected for the match.

What the result means in the standings

With this result, Napoli moved to 10 points from six matches played (three wins, one draw and two losses), while Frosinone also sat on 10 points after six matches, with the same record of three wins, one draw and two losses. Both teams occupy the middle of the table, separated only by goal difference, in a Serie A where Inter remain on top with 16 points.