Sassuolo 1-2 Juventus: 3 takeaways as Bianconeri all but secure Champions League berth

Sassuolo’s young guns impress

Several Sassuolo stars had the perfect opportunity to impress the Juventus hierarchy on Monday night.

Giacomo Raspadori has been strongly linked with a move to Turin as a potential Paulo Dybala successor, while Juve are said to be in the race for midfielder Davide Frattesi. Hamed Traore, Domenico Berardi and even Gianluca Scamacca are a few others worth keeping an eye on.

In their respective auditions, both Raspadori and Frattesi impressed. The latter is a midfield profile that Juventus desperately need: he’s so dynamic and always willing to penetrate in behind. The Italian’s marauding runs from deep are so tough to track. For me, he should be considered the cheap alternative to Sergej Milinkovic-Savic. On Monday night, Frattesi registered a game-high five shots – three of which were headers following late box entries.

Raspadori, meanwhile, certainly highlighted his credentials as he opened the scoring with a fierce left-footed drive that beat Wojciech Szczesny at his near post. A superbly-timed third-man run from the Italian flummoxed Leonardo Bonucci as he latched onto Berardi’s deft drag back before finishing.

The trequartista was a crafty customer throughout; constantly receiving between Juve’s lines and retaining possession under pressure. Alessio Dionisi’s coaching allows Raspadori to thrive as Sassuolo’s admirable positional play facilitates swift and easy combinations between their attackers in which Raspadori is so often involved.

So, while the Italian impressed against his potential future employers, there’s no doubting that he’ll have to adjust should he play under Allegri – a manager who prefers off the cuff brilliance as opposed to systemised virtuosity.

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