AC Milan were beaten 2-0 by Sassuolo at the Mapei Stadium on Sunday afternoon in Serie A.
The Neroverdi have proved a troublesome force for the visitors over the past few seasons, and this game proved no exception as Domenico Berardi made life difficult for Milan all afternoon, setting up Alfred Duncan for the opening goal early in the first half, before taking a hand in Nicola Sansone’s 71st minute winner.
Such was the intensity of the game, the scoreline could have quite easily ended in double figures. Berardi was given a golden chance to open the scoring as early as the second minute, though fired his free-kick straight at the wall following Giacomo Bonaventura’s foul, before Keisuke Honda was twice denied the chance to put his side on the lead.
Milan looked the most confident as they continued to skip past Sassuolo’s stretched midfield, yet careless play saw them lose possession and subsequently concede. Duncan was left wide open from a corner and Berardi was able to serve a sharp pass to the Ghanaian international, who fired a rocket of a shot into the top right corner.
The goal provided the homeside with a huge boost of confidence and it could have been two before half time, as Sansone and Gregoire Defrel constantly bore down on goal.
Jeremy Menez was brought on for Mario Balotelli just before the hour mark in the hopes of jump-starting Milan, though the freshly-recovered Frenchman’s introduction came to no avail in the end as it was Sassuolo who eventually found themselves on the score-sheet once more.
Sime Vrsaljko played a smart one-two on the edge of the area with the ever present Berardi before feeding the ball to the on-waiting Sansone, the Italian able to coolly convert his first-time strike.
A second yellow for Defrel in the 76th minute gave Milan a fighting chance, yet their attacking changes were unable to capitalise on the one-man advantage as they eventually succumbed to defeat.
The result brings Milan’s unbeaten streak to a crashing halt and brings Sassuolo within three points in the league of Sinisa Mihajlovic’s men, both side’s respectively sitting in sixth and seventh.
