Sassuolo defeated a 10-man Inter Milan 3-1 at the Mapei Stadium on Saturday.
Eusebio Di Francesco’s men required a victory to seal sixth place over AC Milan, and they got off to a good start when Matteo Politano’s deflected effort bounced past Juan Pablo Carrizo in goal for the Nerazzurri.
Young midfielder Lorenzo Pellegrini then doubled the home side’s advantage in the 26th minute against the run of play, however, Rodrigo Palacio halved his side’s deficit soon after with a composed finish.
With little time remaining in the first-half the home side restored their two-goal advantage. Politano got his name on the scoresheet for the second time in the game, on this occasion with a well placed header.
Roberto Mancini thought his side had gotten back into the game, yet Danilo D’Ambrosio’s header was harshly ruled out for offside, and Inter Milan’s fortunes only took a turn for the worse as Jeison Murillo was given two yellow cards on the hour mark to receive his third dismissal in the league this season.
This result means Inter finish in fourth on 67 points, while Sassuolo have achieved their best ever finish in Serie A in sixth place on 61 points. They will compete in the Europa League next season, unless AC Milan emerge victorious over Juventus in the upcoming Coppa Italia final.
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Defensive lapses costing Inter dearly
In a game where Mancini’s side did not display it’s worst collective performance going forward, it was in defence where the damage was done.
It would be unfair to blame the Neroverdi’s opening goal on Inter’s defence, however, the second and third from Di Francesco’s side could be attributed to lapses in concentration and basic errors made by some members of the visiting back four.
Inter were caught square for the second goal, as Alfred Duncan’s overlapping run was easily picked out and his ball across the box not intercepted. As for Sassuolo’s third, home side was allowed to get the ball all the way from one flank to the other, back to the middle then out wide and into the box again where Politano met the ball ahead of Alex Telles to make the score 3-1.
Sassuolo midfield dimuntive and energetic
Inter had more of the play in the middle of the park during this match. In saying this though, Sassuolo did an expert job at transitioning the play from midfield to attack at a moment’s notice.
Duncan and Pellegrini were key to this, getting the ball out wide to Politano and Nicola Sansone very effectively. Even getting the ball to Grégoire Defrel in the middle was done well, with such a play bringing about the home side’s opening goal.
The following two goals came as a result of intelligent off-the-ball movement and high energy running, with passing going out wide and then into central areas for Pellegrini and Politano to finish. Although they were not dominant throughout the entire game, Sassuolo’s midfield had the greater impact of the two sides.
Inter struggle without Handanovic in goal, Consigli inspires
There is no doubting Sassuolo were clinical, however, not one stop was made by Carrizo or Radu – when he replaced the Argentine – throughout the 90 minutes. Andrea Consigli, by contrast, made six.
The man between the sticks for the Neroverdi excelled once more, while the only three shots Sassuolo had on Inter’s goal found the back of the net.
Carrizo cannot be blamed for any of the goals, but a goalkeeper of Samir Handanovic’s class in goal for the away side might have influenced the scoreline. Consigli, on the other hand, inspired Sassuolo to yet another victory in an impressive performance.
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