Cagliari fought off Sassuolo 1-0 on Thursday night at the Mapei stadium in the Coppa Italia, securing them a place in the next round.
Marco Sau bagged the game’s only goal with a typical finish just before half-time.
Cagliari burst onto the scene after just two minutes when Andreas Tello delivered a tempting ball into the box that was a whisker away from finding his compatriot Diego Farias’ head.
The Rossoblu kept up their early momentum with Alberto Cerri striking a fine shot but was denied by Gianluca Pegolo with the effort going straight into the goalkeeper’s midriff.
However it was the home side’s Antonio Floro Flores who had the best chance mid-way through the first-half after being slipped through yet his lobbed effort sailed far over the crossbar.
With the first-half coming to a close Farias was able to hit an effort just wide against his former club before the deadlock was finally broken.
In his 100th game for Cagliari Sau was sent through in a one-on-one situation and made no mistake to stroke the ball home with ease.
Sassuolo came out fighting and following a missed chance from Cerri, Dominico Berardi twisted and turned in the visitors’ box before firing a shot that was well saved.
Floro Flores was again on the end of a telling ball yet somehow couldn’t direct the header home before the hour mark when substitute Matteo Politano dragged a big chance wide of the post.
It looked as though the home side were going to earn themselves a penalty in the final 20 minutes when Berardi was brought down but referee Claudio Gavillucci waved away the protests.
The result meant Sassuolo joined Palermo as the only home sides to have been knocked out in this round.
