Neroverdi add to Rossoneri misery in seven-goal thriller
Milan have conceded at least four goals in consecutive games for the first time in their history
A goal and two assists from Italy international Domenico Berardi piled on the misery for Milan as Sassuolo thrashed the Rossoneri 5-2 at San Siro on Sunday.
Sassuolo took an early twogoal lead thanks to goals from Gregoire Defrel and Davide Frattesi prior to Olivier Giroud pulling one back for the hosts.
Berardi made it 3-1 after just 30 minutes before Armand Lauriente’s penalty and Matheus Henrique’s effort in the second half handed Milan their second chastening loss in a week after their 4-0 humbling at Lazio on Tuesday.
Divock Origi scored a consolation for Stefano Pioli’s side, who are now six games without a win heading into next weekend’s Milan derby, including four in Serie A as their title defence continues to falter.
A VAR review denied Giroud an eighth-minute opener and, to make matters significantly worse, Milan found themselves two down inside 22 minutes.
Berardi squared for Defrel to tap in the opener before the same man fed Frattesi, who fired past Ciprian Tatarusanu at his near post after great work in the area.
Milan provided a swift response when Giroud expertly headed Davide Calabria’s cross into the far corner in the 25th minute. But the two-goal lead was restored on the half-hour mark when Berardi icked a near-post header past Tatarusanu from a corner.
Milan’s hopes of a secondhalf comeback were doused almost immediately as Lauriente was brought down in the penalty area by Calabria after 33 seconds of the restart, allowing the Frenchman to make it 4-1 from the spot. It meant Milan had conceded at least four goals in back-to-back Serie A games for the first time in their history.
Ante Rebic had a goal ruled out for offside before Henrique fired in a fifth with just over 10 minutes remaining, with Origi’s
curling strike into the top corner doing little to lift the gloom among the home fans.
Milan face Inter at San Siro next Sunday while Sassuolo host Atalanta on Saturday.
Two first-half goals for Monza proved enough to give them their second win of the season against uventus to add to the Bianconeri’s problems.
Patrick Ciurria and Dany Mota struck for Raffaele Palladino’s men as they secured a 2-0 win at Allianz Stadium on Sunday to follow up their 1-0 win earlier in the season in Palladino’s first game in charge.
uve only beat Monza 2-1
in the Coppa Italia 10 days prior but struggled to deal with their energetic visitors here, as they had done in their defeat at Stadio Brianteo in the reverse league fixture in September.
It is a further blow to uve’s hopes of Champions League qualification following their 15-point penalty related to the club’s transfer dealings imposed earlier this month.
Monza were denied the lead when Gianluca Caprari’s strike was ruled out for offside after a VAR check, but they were not made to wait long to rectify that as Ciurria raced onto a pass from
ose Machin before firing into the roof of the net in the 18th minute.
It was two for the visitors six minutes before half-time as Carlos Augusto went on a mazy run through the uve defence before feeding Mota, who rounded
ojciech Szczesny and finished calmly.
Massimiliano Allegri opted to bring Arkadiusz Milik on for Moise ean early in the second half as the hosts looked to find a way back into the game, and Michele Di Gregorio did well to keep out a fierce effort from the Pole.
The 25-year-old stopper produced his finest save of the game in the 74th minute when he tipped an Angel Di Maria effort from long range wide when it had been arrowing towards to top corner of his goal.
Gleison Bremer had a goal disallowed with just over 10 minutes remaining as uve toiled and ultimately failed to get back into the contest.
Serie A Results
Bologna 2 - 0 Spezia Lecce 1 - 2 Salernitana Empoli 2 - 2 Torino Cremonese 1 - 2 Inter Milan Atalanta 2 - 0 Sampdoria AC Milan 2 - 5 Sassuolo uventus 0 - 2 Monza