Sassuolo only had their first season in Serie A 10 years ago, but there have already been some very memorable matches against AC Milan.
La Gazzetta dello Sport have retraced some of the biggest moments from the first match in 2014 to the last match in 2023. They start on 12 January 2014, with Berardi’s four goals in Reggio Emilia which beat the Rossoneri 4-3 and was the game that got Massimiliano Allegri sacked.
On May 17, 2015 the protagonist was Berardi again, with Sassuolo winning 3-1 against Pippo Inzaghi’s Milan side, who finished with nine men due to the red cards for Bonaventura and Suso, with more than a few controversies after the match.
A few months later, on 25 October 2015, Gianluigi Donnarumma made his debut at San Siro against Sassuolo at 16 years, 8 months and 6 days, under Gianluigi Donnarumma. After the 2-1 win, Mihajlovic said: “Berlusconi came to Milanello twice to convince me, he wanted Diego Lopez on the pitch. He had two options. Sack me and put the Spaniard on or keep me and see Donnarumma on goal. He kept me, fortunately for him.”
Jumping to 2 October 2016, the Rossoneri coach was Vincenzo Montella and Sassuolo’s manager was Eusebio Di Francesco. Politano, Acerbi and Pellegrini put the away side up 3-1 but then the San Siro crowd saw a special comeback and a 4-3 win through goals from Bacca, Locatelli and Paletta.
Sassuolo also represent one of the first sliding doors of the Pioli era. On 21 July 2020, shortly before the match against the Neroverdi, the news arrived from Germany that Ralf Rangnick would not be taking Pioli’s job. At the final whistle, after the 2-1 victory in which Zlatan scored, his renewal was announced.
Another iconic moment arrives on 20 December 2020. In Reggio Emilia, Leao opened the scoring with a lightning goal, breaking the deadlock after 6.76 seconds. The Portuguese paves the way for the Rossoneri to win 2-1, but above all he snatched the record for the fastest goal ever in Serie A from Paolo Poggi (8 seconds).
On 22 May 2022, the Rossoneri won 3-0 against the Neroverdi and secured their 19th Scudetto thanks to a brace from Giroud and Kessie’s goal. All the goals were scored by Leao, the MVP of that season.
Finally, back on 29 January 2023, Pioli’s team collapsed at San Siro under the goals of Defrel, Frattesi, Berardi, Laurienté and Matheus Henrique, losing 5-2 and confirming that the team were in crisis at the start of the year. Will they end it the same way?
Paletta was underrated. Solid CB
Remember the flying sliding tackles?
He had his ups and downs
Easily one of our best players in that era.