Sassuolo defeated Fiorentina 4-3 in a pulsating thriller at the Stadio Artemio Franchi on Tuesday night in Serie A.
Domenico Berardi’s hat trick had put the relegation threatened away side three goals to nil up at half time before a Gonzalo Rodriguez penalty seemingly ended a comeback.
Sansone then scored a fourth for Sassuolo before Giuseppe Rossi and Juan Cuadrado both scored to leave the home side only one goal behind in a pulsating encounter in Tuscany.
The victory lifts Sassuolo out of the bottom three of Serie A with their destiny in their own hands in what has been a fantastic second half of the season for them.
Fiorentina were in control of the game before some neat play in the final third by the away side lead to a Sansone lay off that was hit by Biondini. The midfielder’s shot was struck at Borja Valero who was deemed to have handballed the shot.
Berardi stepped up and found the side netting with Rosati no chance to make it one nil to Sassuolo.
The Viola came back into it as Matri and Cuadrado both had chances to equalise but it was a superb counter attack that gave Sassuolo the second of the game. Diakite, in a make shift right back role was caught in a mix up with Valero leaving the away side to spring into action.
Sansone made way in the left hand side of the pitch and slotted a perfectly weighted pass to the easily onside Berardi. He took a touch and then shot at Rosati’s near post. Rosati made contact but the ball squirmed underneath him and under the Napoli loanee.
It was only three minutes later that Berardi made it three with Rodriguez failing to clear his lines as he was closed down from Zaza. The ball found it’s way to Berardi who closed down on goal, making the angle tighter but finishing expertly past the Fiorentina goalkeeper who was not having the best of league debuts.
Fiorentina were sent out early for the second half by Montella but nothing had changed until Joaquin was brought on to replace the ineffective Wolski.
The Spaniard made an immediate impact as he made his way into the box and was subsequently fouled by Longhi giving Fiorentina a whisker of a chance back into the game. Rodriguez stepped up and netted for the home side.
With belief running through the Florence club’s veins, there was an all out attack mentality from the men in purple but the meant more problems at the back.
Zaza had a golden opportunity to make it 4-1 but shot wide after an incisive break but it wouldn’t be long for a breakaway to pay dividends. The ball ended up with Sansone in the area who jinked passed the Fiorentina defence, shooting past the keeper and onto the post, eventually over the line.
That was not all that she wrote as the returning Giuseppe Rossi came on for the poor Matri and it didn’t take long for the Italian international to make an impact.
A clever one-two on the edge of the box with Valero saw Rossi receive the ball just inside the Sassuolo area to finish past Pegolo.
It only took three more minutes for the Florence club to score again as a long ball over the away side’s defence came under Cuadrado’s spell. The Columbian flicked the ball over Pegolo for his 10th of the season and Fiorentina’s third with 15 minutes to go.
An inspired comeback was not on the cards as it ended with the seven goals mainly in thanks to a fantastic Pegolo save from Rossi in injury time and an offside call as Valero headed in with 94 minutes on the clock.
