Salernitana registered their eighth straight winless result today against Sassuolo as they drew 2-2 at the Arechi Stadium in Salerno.
Starting XIs: Nicola Bets on Bonazzoli, Maxime Lopez Returns
Coach Davide Nicola relied on Salernitana’s top scorer Federico Bonazzoli, who was benched against Bologna and Inter. In defense, Frederic Veseli and Matteo Ruggeri took the fullback spots in place of Pasquale Mazzocchi and Luca Ranieri after their poor performance against Inter.
For Sassuolo, Alessio Dionisi pretty much confirmed the same lineup that smashed Venezia away last Sunday, with the exception of the returning Vlad Chiriches and Maxime Lopez who took their spots back at center-back and in front of the defense. Upfront, he confirmed his Italian attacking trio of Domenico Berardi, Giacomo Raspadori, and Gianluca Scamacca.
Scamacca and Traoré Cancel Bonazzoli Lead
Salernitana found the back of the net after just eight minutes, thanks to a poor goalie play made by Andrea Consigli: Ruggeri put a cross inside the area that met Milan Djuric’s header. The Sassuolo goalkeeper couldn’t block it as Bonazzoli seized the opportunity and brought Salernitana in front with a tap-in.
The Neroverdi immediately reacted and equalized with an imperious Scamacca header from a cross of Greek left-back Georgios Kyriakopoulos. Later on, they took the lead with another masterpiece of Hamed Traoré, who dribbled past two defenders, cut in from the left and fired a clinical curl that beat Luigi Sepe.
Raspadori Sent Off as Djuric Ties the Match
The second half started as the first ended with Sassuolo attacking and being dangerous, despite two substitutions made by coach Nicola, who brought in Diego Perotti and Nadir Zortea.
The match took an unexpected turn of events in the span of just two minutes: Raspadori was first shown a yellow card for a foul on Perotti, then got sent off on the one-hour mark for a late tackle on Radovanovic.
Sassuolo almost found their third goal despite being one man down but Frattesi’s powerful shot was denied by the crossbar. With ten minutes left on the clock, Salernitana’s efforts were rewarded as a cross from Zortea met Djuric’s header, who scored his fourth goal of this Serie A campaign, making it 2-2.
Salernitana and Sassuolo took one point each as the Granata remain last placed, although with two games in hand, while the Neroverdi sit 10th in the table. Coach Nicola still has to win his first game since taking charge of Salernitana but can be moderately happy with this draw.
The same cannot be said for coach Dionisi, whose team has thrown away an almost certain win due to Raspadori’s naive expulsion.
What’s Next for Salernitana and Sassuolo
Salernitana will travel to Turin next week to face Juventus in what will be a complicated match, with the Granata desperate to find the three points in order to avoid relegation and the Bianconeri fully involved in the Champions League race. Sassuolo will host Spezia at home.
MATCH SCORECARD
March 12, 2022 – Serie A 2021-2022 Round 29
SALERNITANA – SASSUOLO 2-2
SCORERS: 8′ Bonazzoli (Sal), 20′ Scamacca (Sas), 29′ Traoré (Sas), 81′ Djuric (Sal)
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SALERNITANA (4-2-3-1): Sepe; Veseli (46′ Zortea), Gyomber, Fazio, Ruggeri (69′ Ranieri); Ederson (31′ Radovanovic), L. Coulibaly, Kastanos (46′ Perotti), Verdi (69′ Mousset); Bonazzoli, Djuric (Belec, M. Coulibaly, Bohinen, Obi, Dragusin, Gagliolo, Mikael) Coach: Nicola |
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SASSUOLO (4-2-3-1): Consigli; Muldur, Chiriches (46′ Ruan), Ferrari, Kyriakopoulos; Lopez, Frattesi (89′ Harroui); Berardi (79′ Henrique), Raspadori, Traorè (79′ Ayhan); Scamacca (68′ Defrel) (Pegolo, Zacchi, Peluso, Magnanelli, Ceide, Ciervo, Oddei) Coach: Dionisi |