Scott McTominay makes return from heart surgery as Scotland stars help Napoli win in Serie A

Scotland internationalist McTominay had not featured for Napoli since August 30 when he played in a 2-1 defeat by Como. It was announced shortly afterwards that the 29-year-old would have cardiac ablation surgery to fix a mild, benign arrhythmia.

The operation also resulted in McTominay missing Scotland’s four Nations League matches under new head coach Sebastien Pocognoli, but the former Manchester United midfielder was able to take his place in the Napoli squad for the resumption of the domestic game.

Manager Max Allegri named McTominay on the bench for the visit of newly-promoted Frosinone and with the hosts two goals up at Estadio Diego Armando Maradona, the Scotland talisman was brought on for David Neres on 61 minutes.

Napoli were already in control after a Kevin de Bruyne penalty and then a Noa Lang strike gave them a 2-0 half-time lead, even if Rasmus Hojlund had missed a penalty.

Napoli added gloss to the scoreline in the fourth minute of stoppage time when De Bruyne netted again.

McTominay’s fellow Scotland internationalist Billy Gilmour, who started all four of the recent Nations League matches, also appeared as a 72nd-minute substitute.

McTominay will hope to continue his quest for first-team fitness on Tuesday when Napoli travel to Spain to face Villarreal in the Champions League.