Sassuolo came back from a Mattia Zaccagni opener to beat Lazio 2-1 with Domenico Berardi and Giacomo Raspadori, but they were rescued by the woodwork in stoppages.
The Neroverdi had already caused a few upsets this season, beating Milan and Juventus while holding Napoli to a 2-2 draw. Maurizio Sarri had to completely revamp his midfield, as Sergej Milinkovic-Savic was suspended and Luis Alberto injured.
Lazio took the surprise lead early on, as Elseid Hysaj won it back in midfield, sent Pedro down the right, the pull-back finding Mattia Zaccagni to score from 10 yards. Curiously, Zaccagni had also scored against Sassuolo when playing for Verona in August, so beat the same opponents with two different clubs in the same season.
Gianluca Scamacca fought back, his turn and shot fingertipped out of the near bottom corner by Thomas Strakosha, while Giacomo Raspadori had an effort charged down.
Strakosha palmed another Scamacca strike onto the far post after a Davide Frattesi counter-attack, then had his gloves stung by Frattesi from distance.
Straight after the restart, Domenico Berardi failed to make the most of a defensive error, firing over the bar.
Berardi did get his equaliser eventually, cutting inside and finding the tiny gap between Lazio bodies to curl left-footed into the far top corner from the edge of the area.
It was increasingly just Sassuolo and they turned it around completely with a very similar goal. Berardi made the same run from right to left on the cusp of the box, but this time Raspadori fired in the finish.
There was a tense finale, as Kaan Ayhan pulled Vedat Muriqi back just outside the area and received a red card for the last man foul.
On the resulting free kick, Toma Basic unleashed a rocket that smacked against the crossbar with Consigli beaten.
Sassuolo 2-1 Lazio
Zaccagni 7 (L), Berardi 63 (S), Raspadori 69 (S)
Sent off: Ayhan 87 (S)
Why does no one talk about this man having a bad resume. He sits 8 in the league but comes up with the same excuses after every match. People must stop pretending that his style of play is “sacred”
I am beginning to think that Italy should just play the Sassuolo three up front – Berardi, Scamacca, and Raspadori.
Berardi has been on fire all year and is one of the best wingers in the world at the moment. He’s already at 8 goals for a winger – and now has 6 assists.
Scamacca is beginning to come into his own and is scoring – he is the true “number 9” Italy has been missing. Looks increasingly dangerous out there.
Raspadori has room for improvement, but is playing well and has great chemistry with the other two.
For Italy, insigne has not been good as of late, and Chiesa is better coming off the bench when the other team begins to tire. Chiesa has disappointed me. On his day, Chiesa is decisive…but those days are few and far between. He has not shown Berardi’s consistency, nor is he anywhere near the playmaker Berardi is.
Yes and No.
If Mancio stays with the 4-3-3, then this has to be considered.
However, Chiesa cannot be benched. It’s Berardi in his usual spot, Chiesa to the left side like he was under Pirlo. Insigne benched.