Monza suffered their first defeat under Raffaele Palladino, as Nicolas Haas got the early goal and Empoli held out under repeated late attacks.

The visitors had won all three games since Raffaele Palladino took over as coach, climbing to joint 11th place, while the Tuscans were missing Ardian Ismajli, Alberto Grassi, Lorenzo Tonelli and Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro.

Watch the highlights here.

Martin Satriano should’ve given Empoli the lead on nine minutes when springing the offside trap, but fired straight at Michele Di Gregorio.

It was only a warning, as they did score moments later. Di Gregorio made a desperate double save on Satriano from point-blank range and the rebound off his own teammate Luca Caldirola’s shin, but could do nothing on Nicolas Haas from six yards.

Destro almost made it 2-0, his volley from a set play thumping the inside of the far post and bouncing back out.

Stefano Sensi’s free kick was deflected over and a Christian Gytkjaer set play whistled wide, but Carlos Augusto should’ve done better when scuffing wide from Gianluca Caprari’s assist on the stroke of half-time.

Caprari cut inside and shot straight at the goalkeeper, while Empoli had the ball in the net on 50 minutes only for it to be flagged offside. Although the Liam Henderson free kick went past everyone without getting a touch, Destro was certainly interfering with play as he grazed it right in front of the goalkeeper.

Carlos Augusto skimmed the base of the upright, but Giulio Donati made a crucial goal-line clearance on Tommaso Baldanzi, then as the move continued Destro got his head to a cross before Satriano in a better position right behind him.

Andrea Colpani tested Guglielmo Vicario from distance, while Nedim Bajrami twice drilled wide of the near post and Destro was denied after a cheeky heel turn at the by-line.

Vicario made a desperate save at the feet of Gytkjaer, as Monza started to pin their hosts back, but the Empoli goalkeeper made an astonishing one-handed save getting down to palm a Marco D’Alessandro half-volley off the line. Deep into stoppages, Nicolò Rovella was sent off for his part in a scuffle with Razvan Marin.

Empoli 1-0 Monza

Haas 11 (E)

Sent off: Rovella 95 (M)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Tickets Kit Collector