Sassuolo flattened local rivals Bologna with a Gianluca Scamacca brace and spectacular Domenico Berardi bicycle-kick.
This was an Emilia-Romagna Derby and the first game back at the Stadio Dall’Ara for Sinisa Mihajlovic since completing his second round of leukaemia treatment. He was irritated after his comeback coincided with a 4-3 defeat to Venezia and wanted a stronger response. Giorgos Kyriakopoulos was suspended for the Neroverdi, with Pedro Obiang and Jeremy Toljan injured.
Gianluca Scamacca forced a save with his snapshot from distance, beaten away by Lukasz Skorupski, and it was Scamacca who broke the deadlock when allowed a criminally free header on the Domenico Berardi corner.
Moments later, Arthur Theate made a decisive block on Giacomo Raspadori’s strike, while Marko Arnautovic’s horrible miss was spared by the offside flag.
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Davide Frattesi stung Skorupski’s gloves at the near post on a smart Matheus Henrique slide-rule pass, then the goalkeeper scrambled to safety after Berardi’s flick over Theate.
Bologna moved to 4-3-3 after the restart and were far more effective, yet got away with more poor defending on a corner on the hour mark.
Gian Marco Ferrari’s header came off the bar and Vlad Chiriches turned in the rebound, but it was disallowed because he’d used his arm to control it.
Musa Barrow blasted over after a cheeky Marko Arnautovic back-heel flick, but Sassuolo doubled their lead with a spectacular Berardi bicycle-kick from six yards, as Skorupski had intercepted a low cross with his foot, which pinged the ball straight up into the air.
Andrea Consigli smothered Barrow’s attempt from point-blank range after an Arnautovic knock-down, but Scamacca added a third as he ran onto the Davide Frattesi through ball and swept into the far bottom corner.
Bologna had won 3-0 away to Sassuolo earlier this season, so the Neroverdi took full revenge. Orsolini could’ve had a consolation late on, but couldn’t get enough on the header at the back post.
In the final minute, VAR noticed Ruan Tressoldi used his arm to charge down the Mitchell Dijks cross and Bologna received a penalty, converted into the roof of the net by Orsolini.
Bologna 1-3 Sassuolo
Scamacca 35, 80 (S), Berardi 75 (S), Orsolini pen 92 (B)
