Serie A | Sassuolo 1-1 Bologna: Emilia-Romagna Derby draw

This local derby ended in a stalemate, as Joshua Zirkzee’s classy opener was cancelled out by the first Serie A goal for Daniel Boloca.

The Neroverdi remained deeply inconsistent, going from wins over Juventus and Inter to one point from the last three rounds. Matheus Henrique, Mattia Viti, Pedro Obiang and Agustin Alvarez were injured. Thiago Motta’s side were unbeaten since the opening weekend and sat in eighth place. Adama Soumaoro and Jhon Lucumi were still on the treatment table, Stefan Posch only fit for the bench and Sam Beukema pulled out in the warm-up.

Nedim Bajrami drilled just wide, but Bologna took the lead with a sensational Joshua Zirkzee first touch on the long ball, got around the goalkeeper to score from a tight angle.

Lukasz Skorupski got down to beat away a sudden Matias Vina strike, while Andrea Pinamonti’s curler flashed just wide and Bologna remained dangerous on the counter-attack with Andrea Consigli pushing away the Riccardo Orsolini effort.

Sassuolo finally made the pressure count with an equaliser, as Daniel Boloca gathered from Jeremy Toljan on the edge of the area to drill right-footed into the far bottom corner for his debut Serie A goal.

After the restart, Martin Erlic’s chest and half-volley skimmed the crossbar, Lewis Ferguson shaved a coat of paint off the upright and Skorupski got down to fingertip a trademark Domenico Berardi curler round the far post.

Orsolini thought he had restored Bologna’s advantage on 75 minutes when springing the offside trap and dinking it over the on-rushing Andrea Consigli, but Jeremy Toljan got back to clear off the line of an empty net.

Bologna again had the ball in the net on 80 minutes when Orsolini’s shot was parried by Consigli into the path of Zirkzee, but Orsolini was ruled offside using VAR.

Moments later, Skorupski stuck out a foot to deny the deflected Cristian Volpato attempt, then Consigli needed to be alert on a Zirkzee free kick that burst through the wall.

Sassuolo 1-1 Bologna

Zirkzee 4 (B), Boloca 44 (S)