Sassuolo imposes the law of the strongest. Mantova is left with no crumbs

Modena, 8 February 2025 – 'When a man with a gun meets a man with a rifle, the one with the gun is a dead man.' The gun is unsheathed by Mantova coach Davide Possanzini, opposing Sassuolo with the game that Mantova knows how to play, that is possession and phrasing, but Fabio Grosso has the rifle. The summary? Mantua-Sassuolo 0-3. We fly high with the quotes only because Sassuolo is flying high, with the victory at Martelli guaranteeing them confirmation of their lead in the standings and a solid +5 over their closest pursuer, Pisa, stopped at home by Cittadella.

Within in the afternoon in Mantua there is all the strength of the black-green league leaders, unleashed in the face of an opponent who was immediately pushed out of the game and never seemed capable of getting back into it, despite their own clean plots and the attempt to counter, in terms of play, an unchallengeable Sassuolo. Who, only timidly attacked, are having a field day and celebrate in the end. Laurientè is the arm – a brace for the Frenchman, before Pierini closes accounts that were already closed in injury time – but the mind that sends Sassuolo into orbit is a test of maturity that sees the Neroverdi impose an extra-large technical figure on Mantova, and leaves only crumbs to the Virgilians. Two conclusions by Burrai and Mancuso, with Sassuolo already in the lead, another by Galuppini when Sassuolo has already escaped: Mantua is all here, while the black-green battleship is something else entirely. Cynical and deceitful like fate, Sassuolo, as it is said, does what it wants: it takes the lead in the 19th minute with Laurientè who capitalizes on a run by Iannoni on the right, it takes the lead again shortly after the hour mark with a billiards shot by the Frenchman and between one goal and another it imposes the law of the strongest, and without too much effort. Mantua dribbles the ball looking for gaps that it doesn't find, Grosso's team ravages, never in difficulty and often in surplace. The black-green doubling closes the contest early and opens up prairies in the opponent's half for Iannoni and Lipani, putting Sassuolo behind the board in terms of concreteness, but the impression that the game could be under control becomes certainty, for the league leaders, when Moldovan opposes, we are in the 40th minute of the second half, at the last assault by Mantua. Which would fall for the third time on Mulattieri's goal, disallowed for offside, and for the third time they fall when Pierini gives Martelli the house specialty, that is the goal of the substitute. We are at the 94th minute, the match is over, Sassuolo's desire to surprise is not. The former Venezia winger gifts himself with his tenth goal of the season and goes to celebrate under the away fans' stand, where many are singing 'the league leaders are going away'.

The scoreboard

Mantua 0

Sassuolo 3

Mantova (4-2-3-1): Festa; Maggioni (14' st Radaelli), Brignani, Cella (45' st Redolfi), Giordano; Trimboli, Burrai; Bragantini (14' st Galuppini), Mancuso, Ruocco (14' st Fiori); Mensah (26' st Debenedetti). Coach Possanzini (Sonzogni, Solini, De Maio, Wieser, Artioli, Muroni, Paoletti)

Sassuolo (4-3-3): Moldovan; Paz (27' st Toljan), Muharemovic, Lovato, Doig; Boloca, Ghion (21' st Obiang), Iannoni (27' st Lipani); Berardi, Moro (21' st Mulattieri), Lauriente' (35' st Pierini). Coach Grosso (Satalino, Pieragnolo, Romagna, Bonifazi, Odenthal, Volpato, Verdi)

Referee: Perenzoni from Rovereto (Di Gioia, Laudato, here Bozzetto)

Goals: 19' st and 19' st Laurientè, 50' st Pierini

Notes: Iannoni, Paz, Obiang booked, corners 3-3 rec. 1' and 5'.