The opening weekend of Serie A delivered a mix of expected dominance and shocking results, with Kevin De Bruyne shining in Napoli's victory while AC Milan stumbled against Cremonese.

Napoli, the reigning Serie A champions, began their title defense with a comfortable 2-0 victory over newly-promoted Sassuolo. All eyes were on Kevin De Bruyne, the high-profile summer signing from Manchester City, and the Belgian midfielder did not disappoint. De Bruyne marked his Serie A debut with a goal, a peculiar free-kick from the left flank that evaded everyone and found the far bottom corner of the net. Before his goal in the 57th minute, De Bruyne had already made an impact, registering a shot within the first 25 seconds of the match. At 34 years and 56 days old, De Bruyne became the oldest outfield player to debut for Napoli since 1994-95. Scott McTominay, last season's Serie A MVP, also played a crucial role, scoring the opening goal with a header in the 17th minute from a Matteo Politano cross. McTominay nearly added another goal, hitting the crossbar before halftime. Sassuolo's Ismael Kone was sent off late in the game after receiving a second yellow card. Napoli, however, will be without Romelu Lukaku for the first few months of the season due to a thigh injury.

While Napoli's start was smooth, AC Milan faced an unexpected setback in their first match with Massimiliano Allegri back on the bench, losing 2-1 to Cremonese at San Siro. Cremonese's Baschirotto opened the scoring with a header, but Milan responded with a goal from Pavlovic before halftime. Bonazzoli then scored a beautiful overhead kick in the second half to give Cremonese the lead. Despite fielding new signings like Luka Modric, Milan struggled to find their rhythm, and Cremonese secured a surprising victory.