What a match!
Frosinone get back to winning ways after their defeat in Naples, and they do it in style: four goals against Sassuolo, a Raimondo hat-trick, and tonight Alvini will be hearing the Champions League anthem. Their start to the season has lifted them into fourth place, pending the weekend's fixtures.
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Of course, Europe is not the aim and never will be. Defeats and tougher times will come, bringing their league position back down to earth. For now, though, being 13 points ahead of Venezia—who ran away with Serie B last season—shows just how well things are going here.
The first half is a spectacle, although much of the credit has to go to the mistakes of a Sassuolo side who are anything but perfect. Far from it.
It starts with Bakola, who receives the ball from Muric on the edge of the box in the eighth minute but inexplicably switches off, allowing Masini to steal possession and find Calò. All the number 14 has to do is slot it home: 1-0 Frosinone.
Sassuolo are not having that, though, and equalise six minutes later. Berardiraces onto Bakola's through ball (partly making amends), gets the better of the onrushing Palmisani as the ball ricochets between them, and rolls it into an empty net.
But this is where Muric's horror showbegins. In the 26th minute, he tries to punch away a low ball, only to knock it against Raimondo's leg. The ball stays at the number nine's feet, and he gratefully taps it home.
Before Sassuolo can even react, Muric does it again in the 30th minute: Palmisani kicks long, and Caleta-Car's poor headed back-pass forces his goalkeeper out of the box. Muric, however, somehow does even worse, misjudging the bounce and letting the ball sail over him. Raimondo can hardly believe his luck and taps into an empty net—again.
It's 3-1, but the first half is not done delivering drama. In the 37th minute, Thorstvedtraces in behind a distracted Frosinone defence, taking full advantage to put Sassuolo back in the game.
You would expect Sassuolo to come out fired up and on the attack after the break, but instead it is Frosinone who put them under pressure again. Muric saves well from Schmidt in the 51st minute, but a few minutes later he can do nothing to stop the Raimondo whirlwind.
Kvernadze perfectly picks out Ghedjemis's run, and his header almost catches Muric out. The former City keeper does well to parry it, but is helpless against the number nine's tap-in as Raimondo completes his hat-trick and takes home the match ball.
Sassuolo offer virtually no response, even with Aquilani's substitutions. It ends with the Stirpe celebrating and Frosinone firmly in the Champions League places. If this is a dream, don't wake the Frosinone faithful!
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.
