Serie A | Sassuolo 1-0 Fiorentina: Viola pay the penalty

Fiorentina suffered a surprise defeat to struggling Sassuolo thanks to Andrea Pinamonti and a spectacular Andrea Consigli save on Giacomo Bonaventura’s penalty.

The Viola were fourth in Serie A, preparing for a packed fixture list including the Coppa Italia quarter-final with Bologna next Tuesday and the Supercoppa Italiana Final Four. Christian Kouame was at the Africa Cup of Nations, with Nico Gonzalez, Riccardo Sottil, Gaetano Castrovilli and Dodo injured. The hosts crashed out of the Coppa with a 3-1 defeat to Atalanta midweek, while Gregoire Defrel, Agustin Alvarez, Matias Vina, Pedro Obiang and Uros Racic were on the treatment table.

Fiorentina had not conceded a goal in three Serie A games, but Marcus Pedersen got down the left and pulled back for Andrea Pinamonti to steer into the far bottom corner with the inside of the boot after just nine minutes.

It's a wonderfully worked goal as Pinamonti opens the scoring for Sassuolo! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/UakOc0wCB3
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 6, 2024

Pinamonti blasted over after springing the offside trap moments later, then Domenico Berardi had the ball in the net, but was offside when redirecting the wayward Jeremy Toljan strike.

Sassuolo thought they had doubled their lead at the dawn of the second half from their first corner of the game, as the initial Gian Marco Ferrari shot was charged down by Rolando Mandragora and Kristian Thorstvedt turned in the rebound from 10 yards. However, after a very long VAR check and on-field review, it was controversially decided that Matheus Henrique was offside and interfering with play when Mandragora made the block.

Jonathan Ikone went surprisingly close with a long-range strike that swerved viciously in the air, then Nikola Milenkovic’s header down struck the raised arm of Ferrari for a penalty. With Nico Gonzalez out, Jack Bonaventura stepped up, only to see his spot-kick denied by a stunning Consigli save.

On the resulting corner, Fiorentina scored when Alfred Duncan’s strike was deflected onto the bar, then Lucas Martinez-Quarta blasted the rebound into the roof of the net. However, this too was disallowed by VAR because Martinez-Quarta was offside in the build-up.

VAR strikes again ⛔️

Fiorentina thought they struck level with Sassuolo until VAR intervened to rule it out for offside!

Correct decision? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/YgqvskiEnJ
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 6, 2024

The chaos continued, Ferrari performing a goal-line clearance on Lucas Beltran’s acrobatic attempt, then Consigli parrying the Milenkovic header on the resulting corner with Nzola scuffing the rebound wide.

Berardi and Jeremy Toljan went off with muscular problems, while Ikone’s strike was deflected inches past the far post.

The Neroverdi held on under pressure for their first home win since September 23.

Sassuolo 1-0 Fiorentina

Pinamonti 9 (S)

Saved penalty: Bonaventura 64 (F)