Sassuolo 2-4 Fiorentina: Armand Laurienté scores twice but still finishes on the losing side

Sassuolo led twice at the Mapei Stadium and still lost 2-4, Fiorentina scoring with four different players to pick up only their second win of the season. Armand Laurienté put the hosts in front after 25 minutes and levelled again just after the hour, but between and after his two goals Fiorentina kept finding an answer — a result that leaves both clubs inside the division's bottom five.

A lead that never held

Laurienté's opener, set up by Sebastiano Esposito, had Sassuolo ahead and in control for the best part of 20 minutes. Fiorentina needed a stoppage-time intervention to get back level before half-time, Mateo Pellegrino converting an Alieu Njie assist in the 45th minute's second added minute. Five minutes into the second half Njie turned provider into scorer himself, finishing a move started by Marco Brescianini to put the visitors ahead for the first time.

Laurienté again, then Fiorentina twice more

Sassuolo's response was immediate: Laurienté's second goal, teed up by Nemanja Matic, made it 2-2 in the 65th minute and set up a finish that briefly looked within the hosts' reach. It did not arrive. Franco Mastantuono restored Fiorentina's lead in the 79th minute from a Pedro Gonçalves pass, and substitute Víctor Valdepeñas settled it in the third minute of stoppage time, finishing off a Cher Ndour assist. Four different scorers, four different providers — not the profile of a side that had managed only one win in its first nine matches of the season.

Two sides that had gone missing

Both clubs arrived in poor shape. Sassuolo had lost four matches in a row — to Frosinone, Como and Lazio before this one — without a win since beating Juventus back in September. Fiorentina had gone five matches without winning at all, their only bright spot a 2-2 draw at home to Atalanta the previous weekend, and had managed just a single victory, away at Venezia in early September, all season. One of those runs had to break, and in the end it was Fiorentina's — their first win in six league matches and only their second of the campaign.

A game Sassuolo somehow lost despite dominating the ball

The numbers make the result harder to explain for the hosts. Sassuolo had 58.2% of possession, five corners to three and nearly 90% pass accuracy, yet managed only two shots on target to Fiorentina's six. Clinical finishing, not control of the match, decided it — Fiorentina needed far less of the ball to leave Reggio Emilia with all three points.

What it means in the table

Fiorentina's win takes them to 8 points from 10 games, moving them up to 16th — out of the bottom two for the first time in weeks, though still only on goal difference above the trio below them. Sassuolo, who had been as high as 15th before kick-off, drop to 17th on the same 8 points but a worse goal difference, now just a single point above 18th-placed Monza and the three relegation places. Neither side's position is settled; both will need results soon to pull clear of the drop zone for good.

Scorers

• 25' — Armand Laurienté (Sassuolo), assisted by Sebastiano Esposito
• 45'+2' — Mateo Pellegrino (Fiorentina), assisted by Alieu Njie
• 50' — Alieu Njie (Fiorentina), assisted by Marco Brescianini
• 65' — Armand Laurienté (Sassuolo), assisted by Nemanja Matic
• 79' — Franco Mastantuono (Fiorentina), assisted by Pedro Gonçalves
• 90'+3' — Víctor Valdepeñas (Fiorentina), assisted by Cher Ndour

Match facts

Line-ups

What's next

Sassuolo sit 17th on 8 points, a single point above the relegation zone, and need to find a win soon to put daylight between themselves and the bottom three. Fiorentina move up to 16th on the same points total but a healthier goal difference, their second win of the season giving them something to build on after a run of five without one.