AC MILAN V SASSUOLO: A PREVIOUS MEETING

The history in Serie A between AC Milan and Sassuolo is relatively recent, given that the Emilian outfit have been in the Italian top flight for less than ten years. There are, however, plenty of spectacular previous meetings that we could recount to you, fixtures replete with goals and surprising comebacks. One of these was just over five years ago, on 2 October 2016 in Serie A.

SETTING THE SCENE
It was matchday 7 at San Siro and the international break was looming. The Rossoneri - with Vicenzo Montella in charge - had had a stuttering start to the season and went into this clash with Eusebio Di Francesco's Neroverdi on ten points, sitting in fifth place (one point behind third). Plenty of new faces had arrived at the Club in the summer window: Gómez, Pašalić, Fernández, Sosa and Lapadula, while Paletta and Suso were returning from loan spells away from Milan.

BONAVENTURA STARTS IT OFF BEFORE THREE SASSUOLO GOALS
AC Milan went with Montella's preferred system at the start of that season: 4-3-3 with Donnarumma in goal; Abate, Paletta, Gómez and De Sciglio in defence, a midfield trio of Kucka, Montelivo and Bonaventura; Suso, Bacca and Luiz Adriano in attack. It was a lively start to the game that saw the Rossoneri take an early lead. In the ninth minute, De Sciglio laid it off for Bonaventura, who saw a hole in the Sassuolo defence and set off with the ball at his feet. He took aim and fired past Consigli - the shot took a wicked deflection off Acerbi. The Neroverdi reacted immediately with Politano beating Donnarumma just 60 seconds later to make it 1-1. The tension was rising and the game became a nervy affair - Montella was sent off for dissent at the break - and the guests hit two quickfire goals after the break. First, Acerbi volleyed home from a well-worked corner routine (54') before Pellegrini - fed by Defrel - curled it into the far corner.

A COMEBACK THAT LIFTED THE ROOF OFF SAN SIRO
The Rossoneri changed it up on the hour mark with the arrival of young Manuel Locatelli. The game changed in the 69th minute when Niang won a penalty, which was converted by Carlos Bacca for his sixth league goal of the season. The atmosphere in the stands rose to a fever pitch and the team responded on the field of play. Just four minutes later, AC Milan brought themselves level: the corner was swung in from the left and only half-cleared by the Sassuolo defence. The ball dropped to Locatelli on the edge of the box and he struck it beautifully and watched the ball sail into the top corner. It was Manuel's first goal in Serie A and San Siro exploded. The Rossoneri completed the comeback just four minutes after the goal to make it 3-3: short corner, the ball ended up with Niang, who swung in the cross for Paletta to head it home and make it 4-3. That's how it ended and would go on to spur AC Milan to a return to Europe as well as an Italian Supercup title in Doha.

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