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Sassuolo dished out a proper beating to their hosts AC Milan to dent the defending champions' hopes of catching Napoli
Defending champions AC Milan suffered a huge blow to their title defence in a 5-2 drubbing at home to relegation strugglers Sassuolo in Sunday’s Serie A fixture.
Milan conceded three goals in a frantic first half at the San Siro and never recovered despite goals from Olivier Giroud and Divock Origi in the first and second periods, respectively.
Sassuolo had five different goal scorers as Grégoire Defrel, Davide Frattesi, Domenico Berardi, Armand Laurienté, and Matheus Henrique pitched in a goal each to see Sassuolo record an iconic victory over I Rossoneri.
Despite the five different scorers for Sassuolo, Berardi stood head and shoulders above all others on the pitch in a remarkable performance that saw him score one and assist three other goals for Sassuolo.
The victory left Sassuolo with some breathing room ahead of the rest of the relegation strugglers in Serie A and also sees Milan’s hopes of catching league leaders Napoli fade even more as a 12-point gap opens up between the defending champions and the champions-elect.
How it happened.
The match could have turned out quite differently if Giroud’s goal after just seven minutes was allowed to stand, but the Frenchman’s acrobatic effort was correclty ruled out after a VAR review.
In an incredible case of bad luck, it would not be the only Milan goal ruled out on the night.
It took only 10 minutes after Giroud’s effort was official for Sassuolo to take the lead through Defrel who arrived at the back post to tuck in from Berardi’s cross.
Sassuolo went 2-0 up two minutes after that when Frattesi stole into the Milan box and beat Milan’s stand-in goalkeeper, Ciprian Tatarusanu at his near post.
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Milan were able to pull one back through Olivier Giroud, whose goal counted this time around, but their efforts to stage a comeback before half-time were quickly stifled by Sassuolo getting a third.
Berardi who assisted the opening two goals, got on the score sheet for the third with a well-struck header from a Sassuolo corner which caught Milan’s defence off guard and gave Sassuolo a 3-1 lead going into the break.
Any hopes Milan had of staging a second-half comeback quickly evaporated when captain Davide Calabria brought down Sassuolo forward Laurienté in the penalty area after only one minute of the restart.
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The 24-year-old French winger stepped up to the spot and made no mistake, giving Sassuolo a 4-1 lead.
Milan thought they had pulled one back when Ante Rebic had the ball in the net, but his goal, like Giroud’s from earlier in the game, was also ruled out by VAR.
Sassuolo made certain their victory with a goal from substitute Matheus Henrique making it 5-1, before Milan substitute, Origi scored to take the shame down a notch, leaving the final score at 5-2 to the visitors.
Milan effectively out of title race
Milan have struggled in the absence of the injured Mike Maignan, and Tatarusanu’s form since the World Cup break has been atrocious as evidenced by the ease with which he was beaten at his near post by Frattesi.
In the seven matches since the restart of club football, Milan have failed to keep a single clean sheet. They have conceded two or more goals on five occasions, and three or more on three occasions including today’s humbling at the hands of Sassuolo.
Milan’s poor form has seen them drop points in four consecutive Serie A games, and opened a 12-point chasm between them and Napoli at the top of the table, despite Napoli playing a game less.
With form like this, they might already be ruled out of the race for the scudetto.
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