Italian Cup: Sassuolo-Spezia 5-4 after penalty kicks

Sassuolo beat Atalanta in the Italian Cup round of 16. And he does it after the penalty kicks and after the only save of the series, that of Cragno in front of Moro. It ends 5-4 for the neroverdi but it was a crazy sweat: because Alvini’s Spezia saw a lot of shots hissed by (13 off target by the hosts) but they also did themselves honor by coming close to scoring twice with Kouda. Sassuolo ahead, therefore, in the final dive: Berardi, Pinamonti, Bajrami, Thorstvedt and Laurientè did not fail. Dionisi, essentially, needed his starters in the most important moment of the day.

sterile domain

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Dionisi initially abandons the 4-2-3-1 for a 4-1-4-1 with Racic alone in front of the defense and Castillejo inside right in the poker behind Mulattieri. Alvini makes his team play around a lot by “bungling” a system that essentially sees two creation men (Verde, who leans towards widening to the right, and Cipot) behind Krollis. Cipot himself has the initial opportunity after 30″: escape, on Ekdal’s serve, in a very high Sassuolo defense, Cragno comes out on his feet but the anticipated shot goes wide of the target. Spezia enterprising and immediately tries again with Corradini (4′): Cragno is there. And the black-greens? They wear a highlighter yellow shirt and on the pitch they don’t have leaders like Berardi, Pinamonti or Boloca; however they react by trying to attack with Racic, a shot between the posts with Zoet who responds perfectly. Mulattieri also has his chance: the 26th minute passes and Castillejo runs ten meters in the middle of the field avoiding three men, a deep ball but a shot wide from the boy who grew up in the youth teams of Spezia and Inter. Sassuolo again, then: Viti in an offensive projection, a shot from far away that is lost to Zoet’s left; the Spezia goalkeeper then safeguards the goal again in the 33rd minute following a long-range shot by Castillejo. It’s a Sassuolo that struggles to enter the area: Spezia covers the openings well and starts again with Cipot and Verde, while Dionisi’s men always try but fail to find the door even with Castillejo and Defrel. The first half goes like this: Sassuolo dominates but doesn’t do badly.

kouda blows

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The start of the second half does not change the script but meteorologically the light rain mixed with wind continues to rage: the technicians do not change men and Sassuolo is always ahead. In the 5th minute there was a great opportunity for Defrel who moved to the left inside the small area: a loose ball, mine-yours, and the Neroverdi striker was fouled by a very comfortable conclusion from Pietra, who made an almost miraculous recovery. Spezia resists but only has flashes of an offensive phase: in one of these, in the 8th minute, it is always Pietra who tries from outside following Verde’s suggestion: he shoots wide. Alvini puts in Petko and Moro, Sassuolo always tries but not even Volpato (16′ st) gets the goal. At 18′ Mulattieri has the shot that seems to be the right one: a shot inside the mirror and Zoet isn’t surprised, it flies to a corner. Now Verde has moved to the left, Spezia tries to keep the ball but Mulattieri still has the lead: nothing, he shoots wide in the 24th minute. Alvini puts on Kouda and Salvatore Esposito, Dionisi has to gradually ask for a hand from the reinforcements Berardi, Thorstvedt, Laurienté, Pinamonti and Bajrami because twenty seconds earlier Spezia (30′ st) really came close to scoring a coup with Kouda served by Moutinho: Cragno passed. The same thing doesn’t happen in the 40th minute: Kouda drills the Emilian goalkeeper but he started from an offside position, 0-1 cancelled. Then, Kouda – unleashed – tries again: Cragno responds three minutes from the end of regulation time.

corners and penalties

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Then, extra time: nothing in the first, and it’s clear that in the second quarter of an hour Sassuolo is looking for more Berardi and Bajrami, in addition of course to the decisive shot from Pinamonti who comes close to making it 1-0 in the 114th minute but Zoet c ‘is, like shortly after against Bajrami. Sassuolo continues to finish but rebounds. And collecting corner kicks (14 to 2) but Spezia resists. We go to penalties: Cragno saves Moro’s shot, his teammates don’t fail. It will be Atalanta-Sassuolo.