Monza earn victory after late goal punishes 10-man Sassuolo

Raffaele Palladino’s Monza have continued their run of rich form with a tense but focused 2-1 win over Sassuolo.

The Biancorossi only lost one of their last 11 Serie A outings heading into this this match, picking up wins over teams like Napoli, Fiorentina and Inter. The team now sit in the top half of the Serie A table, an incredible finish considering this is their first ever topflight campaign.

Sassuolo have not looked their usual selves this season, hovering dangerously close to the relegation zone at various points across the campaign. Alessio Dionisi’s side have only picked up a single win in their last five games, losing to Salernitana, Lazio and Inter.

The first half was a tense and tiring affair at the Mapei Stadium, with the two teams seeing a similar amount of the ball but Sassuolo having the lion’s share of chances, taking 10 to Monza’s two.

The Neroverdi entered the break with a 1-0 lead after talismanic forward Domenico Berardi dispatched a penalty, which was awarded due to a sloppy hand ball by Armando Izzo. The home side thought they’d been awarded a spot kick earlier in the half but a quick VAR check chalked it off.

Things were equally as tight in the second half but Monza started to express themselves better on the pitch, allowing Patrick Ciurria to net an equaliser on the hour mark after a clever piece of build-up play.

In the 68^th minute of the match, Ruan Tressoldi was shown a second yellow card after a frustrated foul on Dany Mota, leaving the home side with just 10 men for the final 20 minutes of the clash.

13 minutes later, Monza thought they’d been handed a lifeline after referee Alberto Santoro pointed to the penalty spot, but again VAR intervened and the decision was overturned.

The Biancorossi pushed for a winner in the final stages of the match and were rewarded in the 93rd minute, when club captain Matteo Pessina latched onto a quick through-ball from Samuele Vignato and struck the ball past a helpless Andrea Consigli, securing all three points for Monza.