Serie A | Udinese 1-2 Sassuolo: Solet beaten by rapid Neroverdi double

A first-half strike from Oumar Solet was not enough for Udinese to hold onto, as two goals within two minutes from Armand Lauriente and Andrea Pinamonti saw Sassuolo leapfrog their opponents into ninth place in the Serie A table on Sunday afternoon. 

Both teams were looking to bounce back after disappointing defeats in the league last weekend: Udinese slipping to a 2-1 defeat away against Lecce and Sassuolo falling on the receiving end of a 5-0 hammering from league leaders Inter. 

Kosta Runjaic opted for a change in shape and brought Nicolo Zaniolo back into his starting line-up, while Fabio Grosso made just one change: Replacing the suspended Nemanja Matic with Luca Lipani in midfield. 

Click here to read more about how the teams lined up.

The hosts broke the deadlock within the first 10 minutes when Josh Doig attempted to play an underhit pass out from left-back. Solet was aggressive in his pressing and did brilliantly to win the ball high up the pitch on the right flank before dribbling inside and firing low into the bottom corner off his toes from the edge of the area. 

It took Sassuolo until the second half to properly dust themselves down. 

10 minutes into the second period, the Neroverdi ran it all the way down the left flank from a goal-kick following an Udinese corner: Laurient, Ulisses Garcia and Pinamonti all combined in a fantastic team move, which ended with the Frenchman dispatching into the far corner from the centre of the area. 

It was a dismal few minutes for Udinese, as Sassuolo went on to steal the lead with their next attack of the game after the re-start. 

The ball was worked down the right flank on this occasion, before Lauriente, Garcia and Pinamonti combined for the second time in two minutes. This time it was Garcia’s cross that was met by the head of Pinamonti in the middle of the area for 2-1. 

This was a big result for Sassuolo, who have managed to leapfrog their opponents into ninth place in the Serie A table: Not a bad achievement for a team fresh off promotion from Serie B. Udinese sit one place below them in 10th palace, level on points on 32 from 25 matches. 

Udinese 1-2 Sassuolo

Solet (U) 10′, Lauriente (S) 56′, Pinamonti 58′.