Sassuolo-Inter 0-5
GOALS: 11′ pt Bisseck, 28′ pt Thuram, 5′ st Lautaro Martinez, 9′ st Akanji, 44′ st Luis Henrique.
SASSUOLO (4-3-3): Muric 4; Walukiewicz 4.5, Idzes 5, Muharemovic 4.5, Doig 5 (25’st Garcia 6); Thorstvedt 5.5, Matic 5, Kone 5.5; Berardi 5.5 (14’st Coulibaly 6), Pinamonti 5 (26’st Nzola 6), Lauriente 6.5 (14’st Lipani 6). On the bench: Satalino, Zacchi, Volpato, Boloca, Romagna, Fadera, Moro, Vranckx, Iannoni, Bakola, Felipe. Coach: Grosso 5.
INTER (3-5-2): Sommer 6; Bisseck 6.5, Akanji 7, Bastoni 6.5 (18’st Darmian 6); Luis Henrique 7, Sucic 6.5, Zielinski 6.5 (18’st Frattesi 6), Mkhitaryan 6.5 (25’st Diouf 6), Dimarco 8; Lautaro Martinez 7 (30’st FP Esposito sv), Thuram 7 (30’st Bonny sv). On the bench: Di Gennaro, J.Martinez, De Vrij, Acerbi, Carlos Augusto, Kamate, Cocchi. Coach: Chivu 7.
REFEREE: Chiffi from Padova 6.5.
NOTES: clear evening, pitch in good condition. Matic was sent off in the 10th minute for a second yellow card. Booked: Matic, Dimarco. Corners: 6-5 for Inter. Recovery: 2’pt, 2’st.
Inter’s magical period shows no sign of stopping as, on the Sassuolo pitch, they dominate and win 5-0 thanks to goals from Bisseck, Thuram, Lautaro, Akanji and Luis Henrique, thus achieving their fifth consecutive victory in Serie A and taking themselves to 8 points over Milan (one game less for their cousins). After two successes in a row, however, the winning streak of Grosso’s team came to an end. Chivu returns to field the Lautaro-Thuram duo in the championship from the 1st minute, a month after the last time, but it is the hosts who start better with a couple of incursions into the area which lead the Nerazzurri coach to preach attention to his team. Words that had an effect, because in the 11th minute the visitors took the lead with the first real chance: the usual corner struck by Dimarco, Muric misjudged the timing of the exit and Bisseck was unforgiving with his header. In the 17th minute the Nerazzurri and national team winger came into his own, but it was the crossbar that denied him the goal. Mini-chance for Sassuolo with Berardi who fails to deflect a tense cross from Lauriente, but then the 2-0 arrives and starts – naturally – again from the foot of Dimarco who this time finds Thuram in the area.
The Emilians tried to reopen the match before half-time, but the intervention of the VAR denied Thorstvedt the joy of scoring due to Lauriente’s offside position at the start of the action. Inter returns to the field after the break with the aim of ending the contest and they manage to do so after less than five turns of the clock. Stop and left foot from captain Lautaro, the Neroverde goalkeeper is once again far from blameless and the scoreboard reads 3-0 for the guests. Goal n°171 with the Nerazzurri shirt for the Argentine, who climbs to third place all-time, reaching Boninsegna. Another three minutes pass and Dimarco’s third assist of the evening leads to Akanji’s first score, again from a corner. Sassuolo is now out of the match, even mentally. Matic gets himself sent off for repeated protests which get him a double yellow card and in the last 40′ Grosso just tries not to make the deficit even heavier for his men. The pace slows down considerably, but a few seconds from the 90th minute there is still time for the first satisfaction in the Nerazzurri shirt also for Luis Henrique who scores the final 5-0. Lautaro and his teammates rise to 58, +8 over Milan who will have to recover the match against Como. Sassuolo remains firmly in mid-table with its 29 points, far from the fight for the positions that are worthy of Europe, but with a nice margin over the relegation zone.