Sassuolo secured their third consecutive victory in Serie A as three first-half goals propelled the Neroverdi to a thrilling 4-3 triumph over 10-man Roma at the Stadio Olimpico.Having claimed victory in eight of their previous nine matches on home soil, Roma looked full of confidence during the early stages, with Georginio Wijnaldum and Tammy Abraham both going close inside the opening 10 minutes. Despite the hosts’ dominant start, Sassuolo soon settled into the contest, and duly found the opener, as Armand Laurienté tapped home after Rui Patrício could only parry a curled effort from Andrea Pinamonti (VIDEO). Buoyed by the surprise breakthrough, the visitors doubled their advantage just five minutes later, when Domenico Berardi’s clever cut-back was clinically dispatched by Lauriente for his second of the evening (VIDEO).##EDITORS_CHOICE##Faced with a two-goal deficit, Roma responded in impressive fashion, and soon pulled a goal back, as Nicola Zalewski netted his first senior strike, placing an effort over Andrea Consigli and into the far corner (VIDEO). With halftime looming, the hosts went in pursuit of an equaliser, but any momentum was relinquished on the stroke of halftime, when a moment of madness from Marash Kumbulla saw the Albanian international dismissed for a petulant kick on Berardi inside the area. The Sassuolo winger dusted himself off and coolly slotted home the resulting spot-kick to restore the visitors’ two-goal lead going into the interval (VIDEO).Roma emerged after the restart desperate to claw their way back into the match, and halved the deficit within five minutes, as substitute Paulo Dybala curled a sublime long-range strike into the top corner (VIDEO). Similar to the first half, Sassuolo showed impressive resolve to regain control of proceedings after Dybala’s moment of brilliance, and came within inches of restoring their advantage, when Berardi thundered a superb effort against the bar.The Goddess powerless against the league leaders – Napoli stomping towards the ScudettoWith time ticking into the final 20 minutes, the 10 men of Roma continued to probe for a leveller, but any hopes of a comeback were dealt a major blow in the 75th minute, when Pinamonti collected a clever pass from Lauriente and dinked a delicate finish over Patrício (VIDEO). This all but ended the hosts’ resistance, as Sassoulo – despite a last-gasp consolation from Wijnaldum (VIDEO) – made their way through the closing stages, to secure three brilliant points and extend their unbeaten Serie A away run to five matches.SERIE A – ROUND 26FridaySpezia – Inter 2-1 (0-0)/Maldini 55, Nzola 87 pen – Lukaku 83 pen/SaturdayEmpoli – Udinese 0-1 (0-0)/Rodrigo Becao 54/Napoli – Atalanta 2-0 (0-0)/Kvaratskhelia 60, Rrahmani 77/Bologna – Lazio 0-0SundayLecce – Torino 0-2 (0-2)/Singo 20, Sanabria 23/Cremonese – Fiorentina 0-2 (0-1)/Mandragora 27, Cabral 50/Verona – Monza 1-1 (0-0)/Verdi 51 – Sensi 55/Roma – Sassuolo 3-4 (1-3)/Zalewski 26, Dybala 51, Wijnaldum 90+5 – Lauriente 13, 18, Berardi 45+4 pen, Pinamonti 75/22:45: (1.41) Juventus (4.90) Sampdoria (11.0)Monday22:45: (1.30) Milan (6.00) Salernitana (11.0)***odds are subject to change***
