Jonathan de Guzman made the ideal Serie A debut, his last-gasp goal giving Napoli a 2-1 victory away to Genoa.

The pressure was already piling on to Rafa Benitez after the Champions League play-off exit to Athletic Bilbao. With Faouzi Ghoulam nursing a broken arm, Juan Camilo Zuniga was given a rare start. Genoa missed Alessandro Matri, Ioannis Fetfatzidis, Riccardo Improta, Andrea Bertolacci and the banned Facundo Roncaglia.

It took Napoli three minutes to shake off that tension with a rapid counter-attack between Lorenzo Insigne and Gonzalo Higuain, then Jose Callejon volleyed in at the far post.

Genoa thought they had equalised with Mauricio Pinilla, but the header was well palmed off the line by Rafael. From that corner, Pinilla again nodded inches wide of the woodwork.

Rafael was performing heroics in the first half with reaction saves on another Pinilla header and Perotti’s effort at the base of the near post.

Insigne went on a blazing counter-attack, but Stefano Sturaro – who will join Juventus next year – performed a perfectly-timed tackle.

Genoa’s pressure eventually paid off, as this time Pinilla leapt between Kalidou Koulibaly and Zuniga for a looping header that even Rafael couldn’t reach.

Higuain fired off target when taking on the entire Genoa defence by himself, then Mattia Perin rushed off his line to deny Zuniga and a Jorginho strike dipped to skim the bar.

Callejon reacted angrily to his substitution, throwing a plastic bottle towards the bench. Iago Falque immediately tested Rafael, while Jonathan De Guzman made his Serie A debut as a substitute.

Insigne sprung the offside trap to go clear on goal from Jorginho’s pass, but Perin timed his brave intervention well to cut him off and catch the follow-up header too.

It was turning into a siege on Perin’s goal and Higuain flashed across the face of an empty net from the tightest of angles.

Deep into stoppages, debutant Jonathan De Guzman snuck round the back of Luca Antonelli and controlled the Zuniga ball over the top to beat Perin from point-blank range.