The Argentine striker emerged from the bench to kill off the tie after the Slovakian had given the Italians the lead in the first half

Marek Hamsik took centre stage on his return to his native club, scoring the winning goal, before adding an assist, securing a 2-0 victory for Napoli over Slovan Bratislava.
The victory ensured Rafael Benitez’s men picked up maximum points with their second win in as many matches in the Europa League group stage.

Hamsik was at the heart of every dangerous looking attack for the hosts, who dominated possession against a Slovan side who posed little threat going forward.

The midfielder set up the first real chance of the match, beating a defender before threading a lovely ball through for Duvan Zapata, who put his shot into the side netting.

The 27-year-old tested Pernis moments later with a shot of his own from in close, but the keeper was up to the task, diving to his left to make a nice save.

Hamsik would not have to wait long to finally find the back of the net, getting on the end of a brilliant ball from Kalidou Koulibaly, before heading past the keeper who made an ill-timed run off his line.

The Serie A outfit finally put the game to bed in the 74th minute, as the midfielder added to his impressive resume, sending a wonderful cross in for Gonzalo Higuain to head home less than a minute after coming into the match.

The hosts had their two best chances of the match to find a way back into the game, but substitute Marko Milinkovic put a free header wide of the mark, before hitting the crossbar from a free kick.

The victory puts Napoli to the top of Group I with six points. Next up, the Italian side travel to Switzerland to take on Young Boys, while Slovan remain at home for their match with Sparta Prague.