Spezia learned their Serie A lesson the hard away as they were steamrollered by Sassuolo 1-4 in their first match ever in the Italian top-flight. The match was played at the Dino Manuzzi Stadium in Cesena, as Spezia’s Alberto Picco is undergoing renovations to welcome the Serie A at the soonest.
Quite peculiarly, the match saw the Ricci twins facing each other for the first time, Matteo being a starter for Spezia and Federico replacing his namesake Federico Berardi among the Sassuolo lines late in the game. They were both playing for Spezia in Serie B last season.
The home Bianconeri‘s start was not the best as Sassuolo – who came from a 1-1 draw with Cagliari in their opener from last week – took the initiative and scored the opener 12 minutes after the kick off whistle: A goal that was a little gem on the part of Filip Djuricic, who nutmegged his marker Jacopo Sala and exploded a sharp diagonal shot to the bottom corner.
After a few minutes of tension, however, with the referee taking his time to check the VAR and disallow a Francesco Caputo goal on ground of offside, the Aquile drew level.
Spezia understood they were being too remissive and shifted to a higher gear. Matteo Ricci crossed from the right and Andrey Galabinov’s timing was perfect to deliver Spezia their first, historical Serie A goal with a header.
But just before the half-time break, Manuel Locatelli went close to putting the Neroverdi ahead again with a curling free-kick that crashed into Jeron Zoet’s crossbar.
Sassuolo’s coach Roberto De Zerbi seemed non happy with something as he made a double substitution after the restart, bringing in Mehdi Bouarbia and Mert Muldur. The changes seemed to work as the first emotion in the second half was Francesco Caputo seeing his second goal disallowed due to offside – and it was not over yet.
Sassuolo’s second goal came a few minutes later when a Manuel Locatelli chipped cross served Francesco Caputo in the middle of the box, past Spezia’s careless defense. The Bianconeri‘s Dutch goalkeeper tackled him in at attempt to stop him prompting the referee to point at the penalty spot – which Federico Berardi promptly buried.
Sassuolo made an end of it two minutes later as Caputo turned provider with a cross from the right side and Grégoire Defrel made no mistake to double the Neroverdi‘s lead.
With Spezia’s defense now all over the place, Caputo seemed ready to make it four but he was deemed offside once again from a Djuricic service as he probably became to be the only player to a bag an offside-disallowed hat-trick.
It took him just a few more minutes, however, to finally make it to the scorecard as he swept the ball in from a header assist by Gian Marco Ferrari. There were no doubts this time and the 33-year-old could celebrate his 39th goal in the top-flight and send another message to Italy’s manager Roberto Mancini.
Shortly earlier, Galabinov could have reduced the gap for Spezia from a Jacolo Sala cross from the right, but this his effort was pushed back by the crossbar. The Neroverdi‘s keeper Andrea Consigli also did his part to keep the score unchanged as he palmed away a tricky Luca Mora effort.
Sassuolo eventually slowed the match down and decided not to take further advantage of a Spezia defense that will surely need some adjustments. There will be much work to do for coach Vincenzo Italiano, whose side managed to live up to the test only during the first period.
MATCH REPORT
September 27, 2020 – Serie A 2020-2021 Round 2
SPEZIA-SASSUOLO 1-4
SCORERS: 12′ Djuricic (Sa), 30′ Galabinov (Sp), 63′ Berardi (Sa, pen.), 65′ Defrel (Sa), 76′ Caputo (Sa)
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SPEZIA (4-3-3): Zoet; Sala (79′ Ferrer), Erlic, Dell’Orco (87′ Chabot), Ramos; Bartolomei (72′ Deiola), M. Ricci, Pobega (72′ Mora); Agudelo (70′ Farias), Galabinov, Gyasi (Desjardins, Krapikas, Rafael, Bastoni, Vignali, Piccoli) Coach: Italiano |
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SASSUOLO (4-5-1): Consigli; Tojan, Chiriches (77′ Ayhan), Ferrari, Kyriakopoulos (46′ Bourabia); Locatelli, Obiang (46′ Muldur), Berardi (87′ F. Ricci), Defrel (69′ Junior Traore), Djuricic; Caputo (Pegolo, Turati, Peluso, Haraslin, Ghion, Scamacca) Coach: De Zerbi |
REFEREE: Mr. Ghersini from Genoa
NOTES: Yellow Cards: Sala, Zoet (Sp), Djuricic (Sa); Extra Time: 1st Half 6′, 2nd Half 4′