Sassuolo edged out a 1-0 victory at the Mapei Stadium in Reggio Emilia on matchday 21 of the 2022-2023 Serie A TIM as 10-man Atalanta had to do without Mæhle since the half-hour mark. Laurienté’s goal in the second half proved decisive in the end.
Sassuolo had the first chance of the game within 7 minutes, with a Defrel effort that was fingertipped away by Musso. Our goalkeeper’s gloves were stung again minutes later by Henrique from a tight angle. At the half-hour mark came the incident that changed the game, as Mæhle anticipated Berardi and then could not avoid hitting the opponent’s leg while sliding in; the referee booked the black-and-blue winger for the challenge, but then changed his mind after a V.A.R. on-field review, showing the Dane a straight red card. Atalanta were down to ten men for over an hour of play. Before half-time, Zortea fired straight at the goalkeeper and Berardi’s free-kick was just wide, but 10-man Atalanta managed to hold out very well.
Laurienté found the breakthrough in the 55th minute with a right-foot curler into the far bottom corner. Despite being one man down, Atalanta reacted with pride, determination and guts, coming close to equalizing with Koopmeiners’ free-kick on 64 minutes, which was beaten away by diving Consigli. In the 73rd minute, Scalvini’s block on Bajrami’s shot was decisive. Zapata and Boga quickly combined on 78 minutes but their play was blocked by the Sassuolo defenders. Coach Gasperini played all his attacking cards in search of an equaliser and Musso parried Bajrami’s close-range shot in the 82nd minute to keep the margin unchanged. Atalanta kept pushing hard until the dying minutes of the match, piling on the pressure; that produced a Zapata header from Boga’s cross, which was over the bar, and a de Roon cross-shot that was beaten away by Consigli. Muriel was also sent off on 96 minutes for dissent, meaning that 9-man Atalanta were handed a 1-0 defeat to Sassuolo at the Mapei Stadium.
Training will resume on Monday, with an afternoon session taking place at the Centro Bortolotti behind closed doors.
SASSUOLO 1-0 ATALANTA
Scorers: Laurientè 55 (S).
Sassuolo: Consigli, Zortea, Erlic, Tressoldi, Rogerio (Marchizza 46), Frattesi, Obiang (Harroui 87), Henrique (Bajrami 67), Berardi, Defrel (Alvarez 77), Laurienté (Thorstvedt 87). Unused bench: Pegolo, Russo, Ferrari, Ceide, D’Andrea. Coach: Alessio Dionisi.
Atalanta: Musso, Toloi, Djimsiti, Scalvini, Hateboer (Pašalić 67), Koopmeiners, de Roon, Mæhle, Éderson (Ruggeri 33, Muriel 80), Højlund (Zapata 67), Lookman (Boga 46). Unused bench: Rossi, Sportiello, Okoli, Demiral, Soppy. Coach: Gian Piero Gasperini.
Referee: Matteo Marcenaro from Genoa.
Assistant referees: Filippo Meli from Parma and Giorgio Peretti from Verona.
Fourth official: Niccolò Baroni from Florence.
V.A.R.: Luigi Nasca from Bari.
A.V.A.R.: Giacomo Camplone from Pescara.
Notes: Mæhle (A) sent off on 30 minutes for dangerous play and Muriel (A) sent off on 96 minutes for dissent; Rogerio (S), Scalvini (A), Laurientè (S), Defrel (S), Zortea (S) and Thorstvedt (S) booked.
