Højlund returns to the Franchi, scene of his fastest Napoli goal

Napoli travel to the Franchi, Fiorentina's Florence ground, on Sunday — the stadium where Rasmus Højlund made his first appearance in Napoli colours.

Antonio Conte was head coach then, and despite the short preparation he handed Højlund the attack anyway, starting him. It took 14 minutes for his first Napoli goal: a run in behind, holding off the recovering defender, then a touch as soft as billiards to steer the ball into the far post. No Napoli striker of the De Laurentiis era — not Cavani, not Higuain, not Mertens — had scored on debut that quickly.

It was not just the goal. Højlund fought for every ball against the home defence, dropped deep to link play, and pressed for the full 90 minutes. When he was substituted, it was the Franchi's own crowd — the opposition that night — who applauded him: rare praise from a home end for a player who had just hurt their side.

That debut matters again now, in a different context. Conte is gone, Massimiliano Allegri is head coach, and Napoli go back to the Franchi 10th in the table with 6 points from 4 games, having just beaten Bologna 1-0 to end three straight defeats. In five games this season, Højlund is the only Napoli striker to have scored more than once — two goals, both from individual plays — while Alisson Santos and Noa Lang are still scoreless.

That is a statistic that should worry more than reassure. A team that relies almost entirely on one striker's feet to find the net is not really a team that scores — it is a team waiting for him to score. Højlund's return to the stadium of his best Napoli memory comes exactly when Napoli need the rest of the attack to wake up, not for him to repeat last year's feat alone.

Kick-off is 12:30 CET (11:30 UK, 06:30 ET) on Sunday, on the same pitch. It will show whether that knack for the right moment is still there — or whether the weight of being the only one scoring is starting to tell on him too.