Sassuolo shock champions Inter again but Serie A relegation still beckons

This was one of those results that felt like an instant piece of sports trivia, future material for the writers of football-themed pub quizzes. “In 2023-24, Inter won their 20th league title with a dominant league campaign in which they only lost two games. Which opponents beat them?” A trick question, as both defeats were to the same team. And an unlikely answer: Sassuolo, who are on course for relegation.

We might be getting ahead of ourselves. There are still three games left in this Serie A campaign, time enough for Internazionale to lose again, or Sassuolo to steer themselves to safety. Still, it will always be a peculiar truth that Simone Inzaghi’s formidable team had a 28-game unbeaten run sandwiched by slip-ups against one of the worst sides in the division.

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Sassuolo began the weekend 19th in the table, with only two wins in 22 league games. They had conceded 70 goals, a tally exceeded only by last-placed Salernitana.

Circumstances seemed to be conspiring against them. Sassuolo had attempted to turn things around by firing their manager, Alessio Dionisi, and hiring one of Serie A’s foremost relegation escape artists, Davide Ballardini, at the start of March. A man who has never completed a full season at any top-flight club but who has seven times guided teams to safety after being called in to fix someone else’s mess.

This catastrophe, though, was still unfolding. Sassuolo’s best player, Domenico Berardi, had just recovered from a knee injury but ruptured an achilles tendon during Ballardini’s first game in charge: a 1-0 defeat by their relegation-battle rivals Verona. The Neroverdi did beat Frosinone in their next fixture but failed to win any of the six that followed, leading into Saturday’s home game against Inter.

How did we get here? Sassuolo have often been held up as an example of a tightly run ship since they arrived in Serie A 11 years ago. Launched upwards from the fourth tier after being taken over by the Squinzi family – owners of Mapei, a multinational building materials manufacturer – in 2003, they have enjoyed significant investment. Sassuolo bought their stadium before inaugurating a new training facility for their men’s and women’s teams.

They have made shrewd footballing decisions, giving opportunities to young managers who have gone on to establish themselves as some of the best in Italy. The future scudetto winners Massimiliano Allegri and Stefano Pioli each played a part in the club’s climb to Serie A. Eusebio Di Francesco completed the ascent, then later steered Roma to a Champions League semi-final. Roberto De Zerbi built his reputation at Sassuolo with consecutive top-half finishes before heading to Shakhtar Donetsk and now Brighton.

Mapei’s money made all of this possible. The town of Sassuolo is tiny, home to around 40,000 people and not even to their stadium, which sits about 40 minutes up the road in Reggio Emilia. Yet the club has built a mostly self-sustaining business model similar to those seen at many other top-flight clubs across Europe, founded on developing young talent and selling for a profit.

What feels particular to Sassuolo is how they have done that, with an emphasis on attacking football. Perhaps that is simply a coincidence, a byproduct of having invested in managers such as De Zerbi who happen to hold a frontfooted philosophy, or the long-term presence of Berardi, a player who has hit double figures six times in Serie A.

Another theory put forward by the journalist Andrea Lamperti, writing for l’Ultimo Uomo last year, was that this might even be a consequence of the club’s low-pressure setting, with a tiny fanbase and no embedded expectation of success. Why not aspire to an entertaining style of football, if nobody is going to pillory you for trying and getting it wrong?

Still, there is fine line between optimistic and reckless. As Lamperti observed in the same piece, Sassuolo this season investing a far greater share of their wage budget on attackers (more than 53%, according to Capology.com) than any other Serie A club.

This recipe has led to some memorable results. Sassuolo have mostly finished in the bottom half of Serie A in the past decade, yet they have routinely upset the biggest clubs – in particular the two who reside at San Siro. They beat Milan 4-3 in their first top-flight meeting (a result that prompted the Rossoneri to fire Allegri) and have enjoyed another six triumphs over them since, including a 5-2 away win last year. The most recent meeting, last month, finished 3-3.

Sassuolo’s record against Inter is even stronger. Despite twice being thrashed 7-0 by the Nerazzurri, in 2013 and 2014, Saturday’s win means they have now beaten those same opponents as many times (10) in Serie A as they have lost to them.

This latest triumph followed a very different script. Inter dominated the ball but looked very much like a team who already completed their business by lifting the title two weeks ago.

Armand Laurienté put Sassuolo ahead with an excellent first-time finish into the roof of the net in the 20th minute. Alexis Sánchez forced a save from Andrea Consigli at the other end before Lautaro Martínez converted a Carlos Augusto cross in first-half injury time only to have the goal disallowed for offside after a VAR review.

“Hope is the last thing to die,” said Sassuolo’s general manager, Giovanni Carnevali, and it certainly outlived this football match. There was barely a chance to remember after the interval, and the game finished 1-0 to the hosts.

Torino 0-0 Bologna, Sassuolo 1-0 Internazionale, Monza 2-2 Lazio, Roma 1-1  Juventus, Milan 3-3 Genoa, Verona 2-1 Fiorentina, Empoli 0-0 Frosinone, Cagliari 1-1 Lecce

What did his opposite number, Beppe Marotta, make of it all? The pair have a friendship dating back more than 35 years to time working together at Monza. They have negotiated a great many transfers in the years since, including Davide Frattesi’s move from Sassuolo to Inter last summer. Carnevali said last month that Marotta would be a “perfect” fit to one day lead the Italian Football Federation.

Relegation still looks the most likely outcome for Sassuolo. They remain in the drop zone and three points adrift of Frosinone and Empoli in the nearest safe positions. Udinese, level with them in joint-18th place, can move back ahead if they get a result against Napoli on Monday night.

In either case, they have left their little mark on this season: the only team to beat an Inter team who might otherwise have made it to 100 points. Not once, but twice.