Sassuolo, time for a catwalk and final celebration: the reverse against Catanzaro matters little

Modena, 9 May 2025 – When Domenico Berardi lifted the promotion trophy, the circle closed: the cup, famously, is called Nexus, which in Latin means connection, bond, tie, and so, in the end, everything comes back: today, like twelve years ago, the history of Sassuolo repeated itself , and one of the faces in the final celebration on the pitch was the same as then, the same but different, as were the teammates, the stadium itself and everything in between, from 2013 to this 2025.

Glory to him, to his teammates and the staff today: it is worth starting from the post-match celebrations when rereading Sassuolo's 0-2 defeat against Catanzaro this evening, from the stage and the confetti shot into the air, from the flight of the dea ex machina, from the happiness of the black and green protagonists, from the chants of the fans - whose banner displayed at the start of the match, "it will be beautiful to travel together", with the A's in evidence, was already looking to tomorrow - and from Nek's voice, because ultimately that was the highlight, the celebration that paid off the debt of a year ago, took Sassuolo back in time and, at the same time, launched it into the future. It is worth starting from there, it was said, because the match in and of itself - introduced by the parade of applause granted by the Catanzaro players to their black-green colleagues upon entering the field - was not exactly a volcano of emotions, especially in the first half in which the atmosphere, given the cause and pretext, did not suggest any frenzy, and in fact the development of the track, for a long time, did not deviate from the mild expectations, with just one shot on target (by Lipani) in 45 minutes of no animosity and closed without recovery.

The second half was decidedly more lively, with Laurienté looking for an early goal and Catanzaro taking the lead after 7' with a header from Biasci on a cross from Pontisso.

The former Pigliacelli - a presence in the promotion year 12 years ago: he was there too, in black and green - excelled on a couple of occasions on the Frenchman (MVP of the season in B, then replaced 18' from the end: the challenge within the challenge for the throne of the bombers, the one with Iemmello, ended 0-0) and on Romagna, Sassuolo claimed a penalty for a handball by Cassandro, interpreted by the referee and VAR as passable and not subject to sanction. In injury time, Bonini headed a corner and scored 0-2: Catanzaro will mathematically reach the playoffs, Sassuolo will not instead make the record of points, but they will come to terms with it.

The scoreboard

SASSUOLO 0

CATANZARO 2

SASSUOLO (4-3-3): Satalino; Missori, Romagna, Muharemovic, Doig; Obiang (14' st Volpato), Ghion (27' st Boloca), Lipani; Berardi (41' st Verdi), Skjellerup (27' st Pierini), Laurienté (27' st Mulattieri). Coach Grosso (Moldovan, Paz, Pieragnolo, Lovato, Odenthal, Iannoni, Moro)

CATANZARO (3-5-2): Pigliacelli; Brighenti, Scognamillo, Bonini; Compagnon (21' st Cassandro), Petriccione, Pontisso (21' st Coulibaly), Ilie (45 st Buso), Quagliata (45' st Antonini); Iemmello, Biasci (33' st Pittarello). Coach Caserta (Gelmi, Borrelli, Maiolo, Corradi, Seck, D'Alessandro, La Mantia)

Goals: 7' st Biasci, 46' st Bonini

Referee: Perenzoni from Rovereto (Scarpa, Di Giacinto, here Mazzoni)

Notes: yellow cards Laurienté, Pontisso, Berardi. Spectators 7,203, corners 9-4, rec. 0' and 5'