Frosinone Scores Four to Secure Fourth Place: Raimondo Nets a Hat Trick, Sassuolo Defeated

Frosinone shook off its 3-0 loss on the road against Napoli by defeating Sassuolo 4-2 and climbing—at least until its closest rivals take the field—to fifth place in the standings, tied on points with Cagliari: The undisputed star of the evening was Antonio Raimondo, who scored a hat trick that propelled him to the top of the top-flight scoring leaderboard with seven goals.

However, the first goal for the Giallazzurri—and the first of the match—was scored by another Frosinone player, Giacomo Calò: the midfielder, born in 1997, received the ball from Masini—who did well to wrest it from Bakola’s feet—and left Muric with no chance just a few seconds before the clock hit the 10-minute mark. The response, however, was immediate: as early as the 15th minute, Bakola made amends by setting up Berardi, who was racing toward the net; the Neroverde forward beat Palmisani on a lucky rebound and scored into an empty net.

In the 17th minute, Frosinone scored through Kvernadze (a great volley), but the VAR ruled it offside, and the score remained 1-1. The tie didn’t last long, though, because in the 26th minute, Raimondo took advantage of a less-than-effective rush out by Muric to slot the ball into the net for a 2-1 lead. Four minutes later, the Giallazzurri’s No. 9 scored his second goal of the match: another mix-up by the visiting defense and goalkeeper made it easy for the 2004-born player to put his name on the scoreboard for a 3-1 lead.

In the 37th minute, Thorstvedt got the visitors back in the game with a left-footed shot across the goal that caught Palmisani off guard, but early in the second half, Frosinone sealed the victory once and for all: on a play started from the corner flag, Muric was still a bit off target; the ball fell to Raimondo, who needed no further invitation to score his first hat trick in Serie A. The pace slowed in the final half-hour, with Frosinone comfortably controlling the game and winning 4-2.

In the standings, Frosinone now has 13 points—the same as Cagliari—trailing Inter and Lazio by 3 points, leading Milan by 1 point, and Juventus and Como by 2 points (all of whom, however, still have their respective matches to play). Sassuolo, on the other hand, remains stuck at 8 points, a total that currently places them in 11th place.