What happened during Napoli penalty chaos for Allegri, De Bruyne and Hojlund

There was chaos and controversy when Napoli were awarded a soft penalty against Frosinone, as Max Allegri was furious, so Kevin De Bruyne took over from Rasmus Hojlund.

The game was still 0-0 at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona this evening when the referee pointed to the spot for a soft Giorgio Cittadini challenge on Hojlund.

There was already tension from Frosinone over the award of the penalty, as the contact seemed to be relatively minimal.

Napoli touchline drama during penalty

The real fury was on the Partenopei bench when they saw that Hojlund was stepping up to take it.

“What, why?” asked Allegri to his staff, because De Bruyne was the nominated first choice for this situation.

His fears were confirmed when Hojlund saw his penalty parried by Lorenzo Palmisani, prompting an angry reaction on the touchline.

However, VAR came to the rescue when pointing out that Palmisani’s feet were off the line, so it had to be retaken.

Allegri took full advantage of the opportunity and ordered De Bruyne to take the ball instead this time.

It worked, as De Bruyne sent Palmisani the wrong way to convert successfully and give his team the lead.

All was forgiven moments later, as Hojlund first celebrated with De Bruyne, then went to the touchline to say something to his coach, who smiled in response.

According to Sky Sport Italia, the striker told Allegri that it was De Bruyne who had offered Hojlund the ball.