Milan plays tennis with Sassuolo and advances to the quarterfinals of the Italian Cup

Milan overwhelms Sassuolo 6-1 in the round of 16 of the Italian Cup: easy success for the Rossoneri thanks to a brace from Chukwueze and goals from Reijnders, Leao, Calabria and Abraham, with Mulattieri scoring the only goal for the Neroverdi. Four goals in the first 23 minutes and third consecutive victory for Fonseca’s men, all encouraging signs in view of Friday’s big match against Atalanta (8.45pm). The Emilians, however, will resume their journey at the top of the Serie B table in Sunday’s postponement against Sampdoria (5.15 pm). The home team’s intention was to start strong straight away, the Portuguese coach wanted to give a signal by deploying Leao and Reijnders, with Abraham as the sole striker. The 4-3-3 designed by Grosso immediately ran into difficulty, after just nine minutes the former Roma found the opening goal, which was canceled due to an irregular starting position. The first Rossoneri goal arrived in the 12th minute, Chukwueze – after surprising the visiting defensive line – he first hit the post, and the winning tap in came on the rebound. Five minutes later, in the 17th minute, Reijnders made it 2-0 with a first-choice shot from 20 metres.

The hosts’ show continued with Chukwueze’s brace (21′) and Leao’s poker in the 23rd minute. Sassuolo wasn’t even able to begin a reaction, Loftus-Cheek himself came close to scoring the fifth goal following a free kick from the midfield. The script in the second half did not change even after Fonseca’s four substitutions: Calabria found the fifth goal in the 11th minute taking advantage of a series of rebounds in the Emilian area, three minutes later Mulattieri invented the consolation goal, also thanks to Torriani’s revisable intervention. In the 17th minute the score was 6-1 with a close range touch from Abraham. Everything is easy for Milan who will find the winner between Roma and Sampdoria in the quarter-finals, a match scheduled for Wednesday 18 December at 9.00 pm. The calendar has not yet been announced, at the moment the scheduled dates are February 5th and 26th.