Cagliari defeated Modena 5-4 on penalties after playing an entertaining Coppa Italia clash at the Stadio Sant’Elia on Thursday evening to progress to the next round.
A penalty shootout was required to decide the match after an entertaining normal time and extra time had resulted in a 4-4 scoreline.
Stefano Beltrame gave an early lead to Modena, a quick counter broke the ball on the right hand side for Riccardo Nardini who crossed the ball for Beltrame to nod the ball beyond Alessio Cragno. Cragno should have done much better and will not be happy to see the replay.
After the goal, the visitors kept dominating the match and had a few opportunities to double their lead.
A goal mouth scramble following a corner presented Pablo Granoche with an open net, who failed to redirect a miscued shot. Then a few minutes later, Luca Rossettini denied Nardini with a last ditch tackle after the Modena captain had controlled the ball and looked certain to score.
Near the end of the first half, Diego Farias, who came on as a first half sub, had the best chance to level the game For Cagliari. The Brazilian was put through on goal but failed to beat Niccolo Manfredini in a one-on-one situation.
The Isolani started the second half much stronger and were duly rewarded. A lighting fast counter saw Andrea Cossu play in Farias behind Modena’s defence. The forward got to the ball before the on-rushing Manfredini, with the keeper sliding in to him and conceding a penalty.
Bruno Conti calmly slotted the resulting penalty out of the keeper’s reach into the bottom right corner.
The Canarini who had not shown up for the second half were gifted the lead due to slack defending by Antonio Balzano. The Italian’s poor headed clearance fell to Davide Luppi, who took a touch and smashed the ball in to the back of the net to make it 2-1.
Cagliari poured men forward in a bid to find the equaliser. In the dying seconds of regular time, the home side scored a dramatic equaliser. A long ball lumped forward found it’s way to Samuele Longo. The striker displayed quick feet and maintained his composure to score the important equaliser.
The frantic and entertaining nature of the game continued in to the first half of extra time with both side not showing any signs of slowing down.
Pablo Granoche side stepped Luca Ceppitelli and chipped Cragno to give Modena the lead for the third time.
Only for Cagliari to equalise again. Longo received the ball in the box and created space for himself and let a rocket loose to score.
Nicola Murru brought Granoche down in the box to concede a penalty. The Uruguayan sent the keeper the wrong way from the penalty spot to give Modena the lead for a remarkable fourth time. In similar fashion to normal time, Cagliari found a last minute equaliser to send the game to penalties. An intricate attack move ended in Farias volleying the ball into the goal.
With both normal and extra time unable to determine a winner, the game was decided on penalties. Living up to the rest of the game, seven rounds of penalties were needed to have a result, with Thiago Cionek’s decisive penalty being saved by Cragno to give Cagliari the victory.
