Sassuolo coach Alessio Dionisi said the 2-1 defeat to Empoli on Sunday was for their own ‘demerit’ and stressed ‘it’s the beauty of football’.
Dionisi moved from Empoli to Sassuolo this summer and faced his former team at the Mapei Stadium on Sunday.
The home side seemed to be in control for most of the game and Lorenzo Tonelli’s own goal gave Dionisi’s men the lead after 43 minutes.
But Andrea Pinamonti scored the equaliser in the 83rd minute, before Szymon Zurkowski scored in stoppages to give the visitors a big win in Emilia-Romagna.
Dionisi’s men arrived from a huge win in stoppages against Juventus last time, but this time it was the other way around and the former Empoli coach said the Neroverdi were ‘naïve’ in the end.
“This is the beauty of football, today we are sorry for our demerit,” Dionisi said at a press conference. “In the first half, I think the match was balanced, in the second we lacked the 2-0 blow.
“Perhaps the ease of getting there didn’t allow us to make it 2-0. If you can’t make it 2-0 with the chances you have, you can’t lose 2-1.
“The 1-1 goal re-opened the a game that seemed channelled on 1-0. We were immature. Empoli seemed to want to keep the ball on the flag. It happens, it must be accepted. We know that, with all due respect for the opponents. We made our effort.”
“It’s a shame for the second half, because the feeling was that we were only missing the second goal. However, it was also thanks to the opponents.”
After the win against Juventus during the week, Dionisi was asked if the Neroverdi became complacent against newly promoted Empoli.
“No, I don’t think we were too certain. Maye we were too affected,” he added. “When you get there so often, maybe you think you can get there again. But we have to think that this is the last time.
“We allowed Empoli to counterattack, this allowed them to stay in the game and we disunited. The biggest mistake is not having accepted the 1-1. It’s difficult to win three games in a week, you had to accept 1-1, we lacked the mental balance in the last minutes that we needed not to lose. We gave Empoli a final opportunity. We were naïve.”