Serie A | Cagliari 0-2 Empoli - Visitors in third as Esposito breaks five-year duct - Football Italia

Empoli continued their unbeaten run at the beginning of the 2024-25 campaign with an encouraging 2-0 win away to early strugglers Cagliari, who are still in the relegation zone after a winless start to the new Serie A season.

A first half strike from Lorenzo Colombo, plus a first Serie A goal in almost five years for 22-year-old Sebastiano Esposito was enough for Roberto D’Aversa’s side to claim their second victory of the season.

Both coaches opted for minimal changes after last weekend’s round of fixtures. Former Chelsea youngster Tino Anjorin made his full Serie A debut after his move to Empoli earlier this summer,

Colombo opened the scoring after 32 minutes with the game’s first shot on target. A poor ball out of the back from Yerry Mina caused the overturn in possession.

The ball arrived at Anjorin’s feet after a neat series of passes on the break, and the Englishman was able to thread it to Colombo to slot past Simone Scuffet with ease when one-on-one.

Esposito, whose only other Serie A goal came almost five years ago for Inter back in December 2019, doubled the lead four minutes after the start of the second half.

He had two attempts after Giuseppe Pezzella’s cross in from the left flank. Scuffet parried the first effort back into Esposito’s path, which allowed him to fire a powerful effort into the far corner from the edge of the six yard box on the follow-up.

Empoli temporarily find themselves up to third place with nine points following two wins and three draws at the start of the campaign. They are technically level on points with Napoli in second, but the Partenopei are one of 18 teams left to play this weekend.

Cagliari, however, will still be in the relegation zone come the end of the weekend, with two draws and three losses on their record after five matches.