Sassuolo beat Empoli 3-1 at the Mapei Stadium in Serie A on Tuesday night to make it two wins in a row for Eusebio Di Francesco’s men.
A very entertaining game saw a second half come back from the home side with goals from Simone Missiroli, Sergio Floccari and Domenico Berardi, who also missed a second half penalty, were enough to seal the victory after Daniele Croce had given Empoli the lead at the break.
The home side started the game very brightly and created three great chances in the opening 15 minutes, firstly though Sergio Floccari whose deflected shot hit the crossbar which left Davide Bassi stranded in the Empoli goal.
Shortly after Francesco Acerbi should have opened the scoring for the Neroverdi after a corner from the left was headed down into his path but he shot over from six yards out and this was followed quickly after when a superb Federico Peluso cross from the left was met by Sapir Taider but again he should have done better with his header.
After all that early pressure it was totally against the run of play when Empoli took the lead on 17 minutes, after attack down the right saw a Manuel Pucciarelli cross found Piotr Zielinski in the box but his miss-hit left foot shot fell nicely in to the path of the on-rushing Croce who finished low and hard into the bottom corner of Andrea Consigli goal to give the midfielder his first goal of the season.
The game really started to open up after the goal with Sassuolo having most of the possession but it was the away side that had the better of the chances before the break with Massimo Maccarone shooting wide after Consigli spilled a shot and Matias Vecino hitting the post after a Maccarone cross found the on-loan Fiorentina man on the edge of the box.
It was the Azzurri who nearly doubled their lead straight after the break when a fine Zielinski left foot drive was superbly tipped on to the crossbar by Consigli to the dismay of the small but vocal band of Empoli fans behind his goal.
Empoli were looking the better side now but that all changed on 55 minutes when a lovely cross from Taider down the right found Simone Missirolo in the centre of the area and the midfielder slotted home.
Minutes later the home side had a great chance to take the lead themselves when Nicola Sansone was brought down by Elseid Hysaj just inside the box and a penalty was awarded but the normally reliable Berardi fired over.
But moments later Sassuolo did take the lead for the first time in the game when a Floccari deflected effort dipped over Bassi and into the net to the delight of the home faithful.
The home were now beginning to dominate and it was no surprise when they extended the lead further on 73 minutes when a left foot cross from the impressive Sansone found Berardi on the far post who headed low past Bassi.
That goal seem to knock the stuffing out of Empoli and Sassuolo saw out the game with relative ease and lift the Reggio Emilia side up to mid-table.
