Antonio Raimondo scored his first Serie A hat-trick as Frosinone beat Sassuolo 4-2 at the Stadio Benito Stirpe on Friday night. The 2004-born striker is now the league's top scorer with seven goals, and Massimiliano Alvini's side move up to fourth for the night. Giacomo Calò also scored for the hosts, while Domenico Berardi and Kristian Thorstvedt scored for Sassuolo in an open first half.
Match facts
- Result: Frosinone 4-2 Sassuolo (half-time 3-2)
- Competition: Serie A, Matchday 7
- Venue: Stadio Benito Stirpe, Frosinone
- Scorers: Frosinone - Calò 9', Raimondo 26', 30', 57'; Sassuolo - Berardi 15', Thorstvedt 37'
- Red cards: None
- Next: Como v Sassuolo, Saturday 24 October; Atalanta v Frosinone, Sunday 25 October
How the match unfolded
Frosinone went ahead in the ninth minute. Darryl Bakola tried to play out from the back but was caught on the ball inside his own area under pressure from Patrizio Masini. The ball fell to Calò, who finished from close range.
Sassuolo were level six minutes later. Bakola hit a long pass forward to Berardi, and the Sassuolo captain got round goalkeeper Lorenzo Palmisani and rolled the ball into an empty net from a narrow angle. Two minutes after that, Giorgi Kvernadze had a goal for Frosinone ruled out for offside.
Two mistakes involving Sassuolo goalkeeper Arijanet Murić then put Frosinone in charge. In the 26th minute he failed to hold a cross, and Raimondo reacted first to score. Four minutes later a looping header back from Duje Ćaleta-Car went over Murić, who had come off his line, and Raimondo got to the ball first to tap it into an empty net.
Sassuolo hit back in the 37th minute with the best move of the half. Thorstvedt exchanged passes with Sebastiano Esposito and ran onto the return ball before beating Palmisani with a precise diagonal shot. That made it 3-2 at the break.
Raimondo completed his hat-trick 12 minutes into the second half. Kvernadze crossed for Farès Ghedjemis, Murić parried his header, and Raimondo scored the rebound. Sassuolo coach Alberto Aquilani sent on Kieron Bowie for Thorstvedt a minute later and made three more changes midway through the half, but there were no more goals.
Raimondo leads the scoring chart
Raimondo's treble takes him to seven league goals, one ahead of Roma's Donyell Malen, who scored twice in Roma's 3-4 Champions League defeat by Real Madrid in midweek. Frosinone have now won four league games and have 13 points, three behind leaders Inter and Lazio before the rest of Matchday 7. They also bounced back quickly from their defeat at Napoli last weekend.
Sassuolo's poor away run goes on. According to Lega Serie A, they had not won a league away game since beating Udinese 2-1 on 15 February, and their last league win came against Juventus on 13 September. Esposito, who set up Thorstvedt's goal, earned his first senior call-up in Roberto Mancini's Italy squad in September.
What comes next
Sassuolo visit Como next Saturday, and Frosinone travel to Atalanta on Sunday 25 October.
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