EL: Sassuolo smash Red Star

By Football Italia staff

Sassuolo crushed Red Star 3-0, and it would have been more were it not for the woodwork.

First half goals from Domenico Berardi and Matteo Politano were followed by a Gregoire Defrel volley, as the Emilian side completely dominated.

The Neroverdi were competing in European competition for the first time, and advanced to this stage by beating Luzern 4-1 over two legs.

Gregoire Defrel saw early penalty appeals waved away, before Domenico Berardi’s fantastic dribble led to a corner.

Berardi has already scored three times in the Europa League this season, so it was no surprise that it was he who opened the scoring.

Matteo Politano shot from 20 yards, with the ball striking both of Damir Kahriman’s posts before falling kindly and leaving Berardi with an open goal.

The Italian Under-21 international went close again five minutes later, but couldn’t get a proper connection and his shot bobbled wide.

Defrel should have doubled the Neroverdi’s advantage, but he somehow contrived to screw the ball wide after Politano had nicked the ball from Damien Le Tallec.

Having been denied by the woodwork for the first, it was Positano who doubled Sassuolo’s advantage.

A cute one-two with Berardi put him one-on-one with the Red Star goalkeeper, and the 23-year-old made no mistake in putting his side 2-0 up.

It was more of the same after the break, as Berardi’s cheeky lob hit the post and was then scrambled off the line by Thomas Phibel.

That appeared to wake the Serbians up, and Andrea Consigli had to be sharp off his line to halt a dangerous Aleksandar Katai run.

The Neroverdi could have killed the game at the other end just moments later, but Berardi fired over on his weaker right foot.

Kahriman was called into action once again on the hour mark, tipping a fierce Marcello Gazzola strike over, before Paolo Cannavaro headed wide from the resulting corner.

The woodwork was putting up more of a resistance than the Red Star defence, and Politano hit the post once again after finding space for a free header.

Diego Falcinelli replaced Berardi on 64 minutes, and was decisive with his first touch of the ball.

Having picked it up on the left flank, the forward surged down the line, cutting it back for Defrel who finished smartly across Kahriman on the volley to make it 3-0.

The Frenchman could have killed the tie a minute later, but screwed his left-footed finish horribly wide when played through one-on-one after a fantastic team move.

Di Francesco’s side continued to dominate the closing exchanges, but couldn’t find a fourth goal on the night.

The result leaves the Neroverdi in a fantastic position, and only a calamitous result in Belgrade will prevent Sassuolo from joining Inter and Fiorentina in the Group Stage of the Europa League.

Sassuolo 3-0 Red Star

Berardi 17 (S) Politano 41 (S) Defrel 69 (S)

Sassuolo: Consigli; Gazzola, Cannavaro, Acerbi, Peluso; Biondini, Magnanelli, Duncan; Berardi (Falcinelli, 64), Defrel (Trotta, 76), Politano (Sensi, 84)

Red Star: Kahriman; Cvetkovic, Phibel, Poletanovic, Ristic; Le Tallec, Donald; Katai, Mouche (Srnic, 71), Ruiz (Plavsic, 57); Vieira (Sikimic, 84)

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