High-flying Sassuolo win 7-goal thriller
MILAN, Oct 18, (AP): High-flying Sassuolo scored three goals in 13 minutes to complete an extraordinary comeback from 3-1 down to win 4-3 at Bologna in Serie A on Sunday.
The victory saw Sassuolo move second in Serie A, two points below early leaders AC Milan.
It was also the third successive match that Sassuolo had scored four goals. Sassuolo, Milan and Juventus are the only teams still unbeaten in Serie A.
In Bologna, Roberto Soriano gave the hosts an early lead but Domenico Berardi curled in an equalizer in the 18th minute.
However, Mattias Svanberg restored Bologna’s lead shortly before halftime and, when Riccardo Orsolini’s shot was deflected in on the hour, Sassuolo appeared to be heading for their first defeat.
But Francesco Caputo set up Filip Ðuri ić in the 64th and scored the equalizer himself six minutes later.
The comeback was complete in the 77th when Bologna
SOCCER
defender Takehiro Tomiyasu tried to prevent a ball from going through to Caputo and accidentally sent it into the back of his own net.
Torino are still without a point after losing 3-2 at home to Cagliari.
Andrea Belotti converted a penalty to give Torino an early lead after Saša Lukić was brought down by Cagliari goalkeeper Alessio Cragno.
João Pedro leveled in the 12th and Giovanni Simeone fired Cagliari in front seven minutes later.
Belotti equalized at the start of the second half but some more poor defending allowed Cagliari to restore their lead when Torino goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu fumbled a cross, allowing Simeone to tap in from close range.
Belotti came agonizingly close to completing a hat trick and snatching a point for Torino at the death but Cragno did well to save his acrobatic effort.
Udinese, who host Parma later Sunday, are the other Serie A team still without a point.
Roma were also playing later against Benevento. Fiorentina gave up a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at Spezia. The visitors went 2-0 up within four minutes thanks to goals from German Pezzella and Cristiano Biraghi.
But Daniele Verde pulled one back shortly before halftime and Diego Farias netted the equalizer in the 75th.
Memphis Depay shows Barcelona just what they’re missing by setting up all of Lyon’s goals in a 3-2 win at struggling Strasbourg in the French league.
The Dutch forward was wanted by Barca coach and countryman Ronald Koeman. He was close to joining during the recent transfer window, but the Spanish giant needed to sell a player before buying him and failed to do so. Barca were poor in attack when losing 1-0 at Getafe on Saturday.
Striker Tino Kadewere netted his first goal for Lyon in the 12th minute after being set up by Depay, and midfielder Lucas Paqueta had a goal disallowed for offside shortly after as Lyon dominated.
The second goal came in the 26th when forward Karl Toko
Ekambi scored after a fine run and cross from Depay, who then beat two players before teeing up Ekambi again in the 42nd. Strasbourg replied one minute later through new signing
Habib Diallo and Jean-Eudes Aholou pulled another goal back shortly after the break.
Striker Wissam Ben Yedder scored his fourth goal in four games for Monaco, with his 70th-minute penalty earning a 1-1 home draw with 10-man Montpellier.
Shortly after the visitors had midfielder Teji Savanier harshly sent off in the 19th for a high tackle, Ben Yedder had a goal ruled out for offside.
Montpellier netted in the 51st when left-back Djibril
Sidibe fell and striker Stephy Mavididi ran through from the halfway line before finishing confidently.
The game was in doubt until 10 of their 12 positive COVD-19 tests among staff and players turned out to be negative following a retest on Friday.
In other matches, it was Angers 1, Metz 1 and Nantes
3, Brest 1.
Defending champions PSG won 4-0 at Nimes on Friday.