Sassuolo and Fiorentina faced off in a thrilling Serie A showdown at the Mapei Stadium on Saturday evening. Despite trailing at half-time, the Neroverdi put up a breathtaking second-half performance to secure a 3-1 victory.
Sassuolo saw much of the ball possession in the opening 45 minutes, but Fiorentina had better opportunities.
Gaetano Castrovilli drilled a powerful low effort from inside the box five minutes into the game, but Andrea Consigli was up to the task. Only 12 minutes later, Cristiano Biraghi came close to putting the visitors in front following a quick-silver counter-attack led by Dusan Vlahovic, but his potent attempt was thwarted by Consigli.
Sassuolo responded in the 22nd minute through Hamed Traore, who picked up a nice through ball from Filip Djuricic, but Bartlomiej Dragowski denied his close-range shot.
Giacomo Bonaventura intercepted a poor pass in the center of the park and exchanged a delightful one-two with Frank Ribery before smashing the ball in the top right corner to propel Fiorentina to a 1-0 lead in the wake of the half-hour mark.
The Viola nearly doubled their advantage on the stroke of half-time, but Castrovilli’s long-range effort rattled off the woodwork.
The hosts found their feet at the beginning of the second half, with Domenico Berardi running behind Fiorentina’s defense to draw a penalty from Dragowski. The Sassuolo stalwart stepped up to take the spot-kick and made no mistake to level the score on the hour mark.
It took the Neroverdi only two minutes to complete the turnaround, with Berardi converting another penalty. This time around, German Pezzella brought Giacomo Raspadori to the ground to present the 26-year-old with another routine task.
Maxime Lopez’s sweet half-volley from the edge of the box in the 76th minute put the icing on the cake as Sassuolo claimed back-to-back Serie A wins for the first time this calendar year.
Meanwhile, Giuseppe Iachini has suffered his second defeat in the third league fixture since being reappointed in late March, as Fiorentina continue to struggle in the bottom half of the table.