Cagliari grabbed all three points from Sassuolo in the final three minutes of stoppage time, an acrobatic free kick from Leonardo Pavoletti in the 99th minute sealed Claudio Ranieri’s side’s victory over 10-man Neroverdi.
The first notable action of the game came courtesy of Sassuolo. Andrea Pinamonti had turned beautifully and put the ball on a sixpence for Matheus Henrique in the box, but a miraculous save from Simone Scuffet somehow prevented his header from crossing the line.
It only took a few minutes for the guests to take the lead. It was central defender Martin Erlic who celebrated his moment of glory with his first goal for the Neroverdi. He rose highest and nodded after a corner from the center of the box, Sassuolo’s third free kick of the game.
From the 12th minute, Cagliari started to apply a lot of pressure and hit a series of crosses from both flanks, but both headers went wide.
The hosts managed to keep the ball in their opponents’ half for most of the next ten minutes and almost equalized from a corner in the 19th minute.
However, a jumble of bodies on the line prevented the ball from crossing the line, as later confirmed by goal-line technology.
Although Cagliari pressed, it was Sassuolo who ended the first half with four shots on goal, all of which came in the first six minutes of the night.
Sassuolo prepared for a nervous final 30 minutes of the game when Ruan Tressoldi showed his second yellow card of the game after 62 minutes.
While fighting for an aerial ball with Gianluca Lapadula on the halfway line, Tressoldi raised his leg to gain control, but his shin touched the striker’s face, leaving referee Maurizio Mariani with no choice but to give him a second yellow card to show high ball. Foot.
Tressoldi’s teammates protested his innocence shortly afterwards, there was also some pushing and shoving, but the officiating team had already made their decision.
Alessio Dionisi opted to switch off both wingers at this point and brought in defenders Gian Marco Ferrari and Marcus Holgrem Pedersen to keep Cagliari at bay.
Sassuolo’s changes were as expected, and the team’s shape resembled a very defensive back five with a diamond in front of them. Although they had the numerical advantage, it was never going to be easy for Cagliari to break them.
However, Ranieri’s men continued to press and won a promising corner three minutes from time. Pavoletti’s powerful header was heroically cleared off the line by Matheus Henrique.
Then, after 89 minutes, Sassuolo managed to break out of their own half and break through the Cagliari defense in a three-on-three.
A hat-trick by all substitutes as Samuele Mulattieri found Cristian Volpato on the left, who crossed the ball to Nedim Bajrami to hit home. However, there was one pass too many as the linesman held up his flag for offside. VAR ultimately confirmed the decision.
Cagliari soon had the ball at the end of the pitch and won another corner in the 94th minute, with a brief break for some altercations in between.
Although the first cross went too far deep, the ball was recovered by Zito Luvumbo and sent back to Lapadula, who parried a touch off his chest before flicking the ball home from 10 yards out to put the fans behind the goal in to cause turmoil.
The fourth official initially announced seven minutes of added time, but after much celebration it ended up being more than ten minutes until the end.
This gave Cagliari the chance to determine the eventual winner. Another determined ball was sent into the box, this time from Eldor Shomurodov’s header, which sent Pavoletti into an acrobatic scissor kick into the far corner in the most dramatic of circumstances.
Cagliari, having lost in the 93rd minute, had pulled off the most unlikely of comebacks. As a result, they have now catapulted themselves out of the Serie A relegation zone and into 16th place, just two points and one place behind their opponents from Monday night.
Cagliari – Sassuolo 2:1
Erlic (S) 7′, Lapadula (C) 90+4′, Pavoletti (C) 90+9′.
21
18
14
1
20
33
99
23
17
37
2023-12-11 22:02:39
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