Rasmus Hojlund led Antonio Conte’s line for 72 minutes during Napoli’s 2-0 Champions League loss to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City on Thursday night. Hojlund returned to Manchester after joining Napoli on a season-long loan from Manchester United. What did the Italian media think of the youthful, unpolished Denmark striker’s play after he failed to score in a close loss?
Hojlund, a United supporter from Copenhagen, was dissatisfied at Old Trafford after Benjamin Sesko arrived from RB Leipzig. He wanted to stay and compete for his spot under Ruben Amorim, but the defending Serie A winners asked about a loan transfer instead. After an agreement was reached, he left England for Italy at the end of June.
The decision to let the 22-year-old striker move on to new opportunities this summer was decided after the 13-time Premier League winners were eliminated from the Carabao Cup by fourth-tier rival Grimsby Town, according to people familiar with the matter, as reported by The Athletic. He will be hoping that his performances while on loan would help him win back Amorim’s interest, but did he do that versus City?
Analysis of Hojlund’s Performance Against City by Italian Media
Hojlund was immediately effective in scoring goals after moving to Naples. The 26-cap Denmark international, who started in place of Romelu Lukaku due to injury, scored his team’s second goal in a 3-1 victory over Fiorentina like he intended to. He did not have the same luck in the middle of the week, though, as might be expected.
It’s hard to say that Hojlund has had a happy hunting ground at Etihad Stadium throughout the years. He hasn’t scored in any of his five games against a team captained by the haughty Guardiola, despite United’s 2-1 victory there last season.
Hojlund was given the same task for the visitors after Erling Haaland, who scored City’s first goal of the match, was dismissed for the English team. Scott McTominay, Kevin De Bruyne, and Matteo Politano were among those assigned to work in the spaces behind him and locate the Copenhagen academy graduate with in-behind balls.
Despite his early energy, Hojlund, who scored 26 goals during his time at Old Trafford, was mainly restrained by Guardiola and company’s defensive tandem of Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol. He only had 12 touches, including one in City’s box, and only won one of his five contested duels, giving him a 20% success percentage.
I hear you question how his performance has been received by the Italian media. In their player ratings article, Football Italia claimed that Hojlund suffered because De Bruyne was Conte’s scapegoat (the Belgian midfielder was substituted after Giovanni Di Lorenzo was sent off early).
“Tried to make a nuisance of himself in the early stages, but was never going to be blessed with opportunities after the early red card.”
In other places, Il Mattino’s criticism of Hojlund’s performance was more brutal. “He put pressure on City’s central defenders, especially Ruben Dias,” they stated. He made an effort to assist as much as he could by dropping deep and using elastic movements in a game that required a lot of sacrifice and had few usable balls. It wasn’t all his fault that he was a ghost.
In a nutshell, TuttoNapoli rated the United loanee a 6 out of 10. “A lot of movement, little ball. It’s difficult to judge,” they stated. Aside from the recent loss, Hojlund is loving life in the third-largest city in Italy, while United is still mired in mediocrity. To make matters worse, Amorim is treading extremely carefully in order to retain his position.
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