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·21 January 2024

Serie A | Frosinone 3-1 Cagliari: Canarini revenge comeback

Frosinone took revenge for their epic defeat to Cagliari, completing their own comeback with Luca Mazzitelli, Matias Soule and Kaio Jorge to end a run of five consecutive losses.

The hosts missed Jaime Baez, Ilario Monterisi, Anthony Oyono, Sergio Kalaj and Riccardo Marchizza, with Kevin Bonifazi not at 100 per cent. Nadir Zortea was thrown straight into the starting XI after his move from Atalanta. Claudio Ranieri was without Zito Luvumbo, Marco Mancosu, Eldor Shomurodov, Gaetano Oristanio and Marko Rog.

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The last time these sides met, the Sardinians were trailing 3-0 until the 72nd minute, only to win 4-3 with two Leonardo Pavoletti goals in stoppages.

Walid Cheddira forced a wonderful Simone Scuffet fingertip save from a tight angle, then on the resulting corner he scored, but only after wandering offside.

Cheddira tested Scuffet again at full stretch at the near post, but it was Cagliari who took the lead when Andrea Petagna saw his attempted volley charged down by Caleb Okoli and it ricocheted into the path of Ibrahim Sulemana to drill home from the edge of the area.

Scuffet again denied Cheddira, rushing off his line to parry after a sensational first touch to control the ball over the top.

Frosinone thought they had equalised on the stroke of half-time, but it was disallowed. Matias Soule had pulled back from the by-line forcing a tricky save out of Scuffet, then Francesco Gelli’s effort was parried until Enzo Barrenechea fired in at the back post. However, it was disallowed following a VAR review, as Marco Brescianini crashed into Alberto Dossena, leaving the defender unable to participate.

Frosinone went so close to an equaliser on 50 minutes when a Gelli free kick flashed all the way across the face of goal, but both Simone Romagnoli and Cheddira just failed to get the tiniest of touches to tap in.

Moments later, Scuffet beat away the Gelli strike and the hosts finally got a deserved equaliser when substitute Abdou Harroui floated in a cross for Luca Mazzitelli’s flicked header from 12 yards.

The Canarini turned it around completely with a wonderful Soule free kick curled left-footed over the wall and into the near top corner from the edge of the box.

Cagliari were no strangers to a late comeback and Stefano Turati clawed the Dossena header off the line from a Tommaso Augello free kick.

He needed an even more extraordinary save in stoppages on the Leonardo Pavoletti header, which bounced right in front of him.

Just as Cagliari threatened with a series of corners, Frosinone went on the counter with Fares Ghedjemis and Zortea rolled across for Kaio Jorge to tap in from point-blank range, sealing the 3-1 scoreline.