Bologna - Fiorentina 2-1
Bologna registered their first victory of the 2022/23 Serie A campaign after a hard-fought 2-1 success in the Derby dell'Appennino over Fiorentina at the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara.
With Thiago Motta scheduled to take over as the new Bologna manager after today’s encounter, following the sacking of Sinisa Mihajlovic on Tuesday, the Rossoblu’s starting XI proved very assertive in the opening half, effectively subduing an underwhelming Fiorentina side.
With the league’s topscorer in their attacking ranks, Bologna were left rueing a gilt-edged opportunity to break the deadlock approaching the break when Pietro Terracciano raced off his line to deny Marko Arnautovic his sixth goal of an already enterprising campaign.
Aiming for their first away league goal of this term, the visitors would be left wondering what could have been when Christian Kouame’s mesmerising run culminated in the Ivorian international misfiring at the final goalscoring hurdle.
Nonetheless, the visitors were ahead just six minutes later, when defender Lucas Martinez Quarta was in the right place to steer half-time substitute Riccardo Saponara’s enticing cross past Lukasz Skorupski.
Visibly eager to impress their manager in-waiting, Bologna were level only five minutes later when Musa Barrow became only the second I Rossoblu player, after Arnautovic, to find the back of the net this season, exploiting an unconventional slip by Igor Julio that allowed the Gambia international to slot the ball past the onrushing silhouette of Terracciano.
Another defensive debacle from the visitors handed Bologna the points just three minutes later.
Made to wait what must have felt like an entirety to Arnautovic and the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, VAR finally gave the go-ahead to Daniele Orsato to award the goal, nonchalantly dismissing I Viola’s appeals for a foul on Quarta in the build-up to Arnautovic’s back-post tap in.
With a much-needed three points readily visible on the horizon, Bologna successfully remained in pole position to extend their unbeaten tenure at the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara in the league this season.
Meanwhile, Fiorentina finished a disappointing afternoon with 10 men, after Igor Julio was handed his marching orders for a second yellow card deep into injury-time.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Musa Barrow (Bologna)
Check out all the stats from the game with Flashscore.
Lecce - Monza 1-1
Lecce and Monza battled to a 1-1 draw at the Stadio Comunale Via Del Mare on matchday six of Serie A. Both sides have yet to take all three points this season, although for Monza the draw meant their first point of a disappointing campaign to date.
With each side still searching for their first win of the season, the game started nervously, with neither side confident in attack. Last season's Serie B champions Lecce were naturally the more confident out of the two sides.
The Salentini nearly broke the deadlock on 15 minutes when Þórir Jóhann Helgason’s corner was powerfully headed wide by Federico Baschirotto. Moments later, Lameck Banda flashed a shot across the face of the goal.
Those two escapes gave Giovanni Stroppa’s side some belief as Monza hadn’t really asked too many questions of the home side defence. A big chance came the visitors' way as Inter loanee Stefano Sensi’s header was cleared off the line when Monza counter-attacked.
As 30 minutes ticked over, both sides continued their poor run of not scoring inside the opening half-hour.
That soon changed five minutes later when out of the blue Monza took the lead as Sensi curled a beautiful free-kick into the net to silence the fervent home support.
Conceding was nothing new to Lecce, having conceded the first goal in all of their league games this season.
The second half began with Lecce in determined mood, and it didn’t take the home side long to equalise when Assan Ceesay’s cross was slammed in by substitute Joan Gonzalez.
However, Marco Baroni’s men failed to capitalise on their excellent start to the half and press for more goals. Lecce’s players thought they had a big shout for handball in the area, however following a quick VAR check, no penalty was given.
In the closing stages of the game, it was Monza who searched for a winning goal and their first win in Lecce since 1998 as Dany Mota’s dangerous cross was eventually cleared by a nervous home defence.
Monza were grateful for goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio for pulling off two stunning saves in stoppage time to preserve a point. In the end, the points were shared, which isn’t an ideal outcome for either side.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Stefano Sensi (Monza)
Check out all the stats from the game with Flashscore.
Sassuolo - Udinese 1-3
Udinese fought back from a goal down against 10-man Sassoulo to claim all three points, recording back-to-back Serie A away victories.
Le Zebrette, who inflicted Jose Mourinho’s worst Italian top-flight defeat last time out by walloping his Roma side 4-0, were looking to build on their rich vein of form, which had seen them win three consecutive Serie A games in a row.
The visitors, looking to make it four wins in a row, started brightly in Reggio Emilia against a Sassuolo side who were unbeaten at home so far this campaign, but were ultimately wasteful in front of goal before the break.
Neither side had registered a shot on target as the first half passed its midway point, but Sassoulo eventually made the most of their first attempt at goal, as Armand Lauriente fed the ball through to Davide Frattesi inside the area, and the Italian international coolly slotted home to give his side the lead.
However, the Neroverdi were reduced to ten men just before the interval, when Ruan Tressoldi was given his marching orders for serious foul play.
The interval saw Udinese make a double switch, in an attempt to exploit their numerical advantage.
However, I Bianconeri initially continued to be luckless in the final third despite their best efforts – an unusual trait considering the visitors had netted nine Serie A goals prior to this fixture.
Nevertheless, good fortune soon arrived in the form of substitute Beto, who headed in from close range in the 75th minute to pull Udinese level.
After applying late pressure, a winning goal materialised late on for the visitors, as Lazar Samardzic sealed the three points with a magnificent strike from the edge of the area, before Beto fired home to bring the curtain down on the contest.
The victory moves Udinese up to fourth for now, while Sassoulo suffered their first home defeat of the season.
