Serie A | Sassuolo 2-1 Cagliari: Sardinians fumble precious lead

Sassuolo turned it around after the Sebastiano Esposito penalty, as Ulisses Garcia and Andrea Pinamonti plunge Cagliari closer to the relegation zone.

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Both teams went into the break for international duty in poor form, as the Neroverdi remain comfortably mid-table, but scraped one point from three rounds after their squad was decimated by a whooping cough outbreak in the 1-1 draw at Juventus.

Daniel Boloca, Fali Cande and Edoardo Pieragnolo were long-term absentees, though Kristian Thorstvedt returned. Cagliari risked getting dragged back into the danger zone after two points in seven rounds, with Alberto Dossena suspended, Leonardo Pavoletti, Mattia Felici and Riyad Idrissi injured.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

Thorstvedt’s chest and volley flashed just wide of the far top corner, while Sebastiano Esposito’s attempt was charged down from 12 yards.

Esposito tried to break through the middle, but Jay Idzes flicked the ball away from his knee with a hand while stumbling, and VAR spotted the handling offence to award the penalty. Esposito converted hard and low into the near bottom corner, despite Arijanet Muric getting his fingertips to it.

Alessandro Deiola also tested Muric, but Armand Laurienté saw his free kick fingertipped over the bar by Elia Caprile and Domenico Berardi’s shot from a corner kick routine was blocked off.

Sassuolo equalised after the restart, as Yerry Mina cleared a corner to the edge of the D, where Ulisses Garcia was ready to control with his chest and sweep on the half-volley into the bottom corner. It was the first Serie A goal for the January signing from Olympique Marseille.

Juan Rodriguez prevented Domenico Berardi going clear after a give and go with Thorstvedt, but Deiola couldn’t keep his header down on a Marco Palestra cross.

Luca Lipani scored within minutes of coming off the bench, but was clearly offside on the Thorstvedt assist.

It was just a warning, as Sassuolo did turn the game around when Darryl Bakola flicked on a throw-in for Andrea Pinamonti, who gathered with his back to goal, turned and threaded the finish through a tiny gap into the near bottom corner from 12 yards.

Cagliari had a huge chance to equalise in stoppages when Muric fumbled a simple cross, but Adam Obert couldn’t keep the finish on target from a tricky angle when faced with the open goal.

Sassuolo 2-1 Cagliari

Esposito pen 30 (C), Garcia 50 (S), Pinamonti 78 (S)

04-04-2026 14:00

MatchDay 31

Mapei Stadium - Città del Tricolore

Sassuolo

Cagliari

2 - 1

Player statistic

1st half

30'

Sebastiano Esposito

2nd half

Ulisses Garcia		50'
Andrea Pinamonti (Assist: Darryl Bakola)		78'
Andrea Pinamonti		79'

Sassuolo

Cagliari

Starting lineups

49

Arijanet Muric

Goalkeeper

19

Filippo Romagna

Defender

58'

21

Jay Idzes

Defender

6

Sebastian Walukiewicz

Defender

23

Ulisses Garcia

Defender

7

Cristian Volpato

Midfielder

58'

90

Ismaël Koné

Midfielder

69'

42

Kristian Thorstvedt

Midfielder

99

Andrea Pinamonti

Attacker

82'

45

Armand Lauriente

Attacker

69'

10

Domenico Berardi

Attacker

1

Elia Caprile

Goalkeeper

33

Adam Obert

Defender

15

Juan Rodríguez

Defender

2

Marco Palestra

Defender

26

Yerry Mina

Defender

32

Zé Pedro

Defender

83'

14

Alessandro Deiola

Midfielder

10

Gianluca Gaetano

Midfielder

75'

90

Michael Folorunsho

Midfielder

74'

8

Michel Adopo

Midfielder

90'

94

Sebastiano Esposito

Attacker

90'

Substitutes

12

Giacomo Satalino

Goalkeeper

16

Gioele Zacchi

Goalkeeper

13

Stefano Turati

Goalkeeper

24

Luca Moro

Attacker

44

Edoardo Iannoni

Midfielder

3

Josh Doig

Defender

40

Aster Vranckx

Midfielder

20

Alieu Fadera

Midfielder

80

Tarik Muharemovic

Defender

66

Pedro Felipe

Defender

25

Woyo Coulibaly

Defender

58'

18

Nemanja Matic

Midfielder

58'

35

Luca Lipani

Midfielder

69'

50

Darryl Bakola

Midfielder

69'

8

M’Bala Nzola

Attacker

82'

19

Andrea Belotti

Attacker

4

Luca Mazzitelli

Midfielder

24

Giuseppe Ciocci

Goalkeeper

12

Alen Sherri

Goalkeeper

27

Joseph Liteta

Midfielder

20

Agustín Albarracín

Midfielder

18

Othniel Raterink

Midfielder

29

Gennaro Borrelli

Attacker

74'

25

Ibrahim Sulemana

Midfielder

75'

9

Semih Kılıçsoy

Attacker

83'

28

Gabriele Zappa

Defender

90'

31

Paul Mendy

Attacker

90'