Sassuolo and Udinese draw 1-1 in one of the survival clashes of the thirtieth matchday of Serie A. At the Mapei Stadium the goals all came in the first half: Thauvin responded to Defrel’s momentary lead. From what we saw on the pitch, the draw was fairer; the match is fought and without a real master. The first half is rather balanced. The two teams light up only thanks to the flames of the individuals: Pinamonti on one side, Lucca and Lovric on the other, are the only ones causing problems for the opposing goalkeepers. At the end of the half the game heated up and both teams scored. In the 41st minute Sassuolo scored first, thanks to Defrel, launched into space by a great ball from Matheus Henrique. The home team’s joy, however, did not last long and, three minutes later, Udinese equalized through Thauvin, who scored an easy touch in front of goal after Pereyra’s assist.
In the second half Udinese is superior in terms of maneuvering, even if, like Sassuolo, the Friulians proved imprecise in the final metres. In the 69th minute the Bianconeri came close to taking the lead with Lovric’s powerful shot which, however, hit the crossbar. The neroverdi were pardoned again in the 81st minute by the second woodwork of the day: Samardzic takes a free kick from the long distance, on which no one intervenes and the ball is printed on the post. In the final the only real danger was Pinamonti’s header in the 82nd minute. The draw is more useful to Udinese than to Sassuolo: the Friulians rise to 28 points in the standings, while the Emilians remain second to last but are one point away from “salvation”.