Serie A

Football Italia

·16 March 2024

Serie A | Monza 1-0 Cagliari: Maldini magic

A fantastic Daniel Maldini free kick proved enough to give Monza all three points and stall the Cagliari climb up the table.

The hosts had won three of their last four, but Danilo D’Ambrosio joined Samuele Vignato and Gianluca Caprari on the absentee list. The Sardinians pulled themselves out of the relegation zone with back-to-back victories over Empoli and Salernitana, despite an injury crisis ruling out Yerry Mina, Gianluca Gaetano, Andrea Petagna, Zito Luvumbo, Leonardo Pavoletti and Marco Mancosu.

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Eldor Shomurodov was pulled back just outside the box and Gianluca Lapadula sent that low free kick inches wide of the near post, managing to drill it under the wall as it jumped.

Monza took the lead with a sensational free kick from Daniel Maldini, who curled it over the wall, thumping the underside of the crossbar and bouncing over the line, giving Simone Scuffet no chance. Remarkably, his father Paolo also scored against a Cagliari side with Claudio Ranieri as the coach in February 1991 for Milan.

Dany Mota Carvalho could’ve made it 2-0 before the break, only to turn a relatively free header wide of the back post.

Andrea Colpani and Dany Mota drilled efforts across the face of goal, while a crucial Andrea Carboni defensive intervention stopped Shomurodov sliding onto the tap-in at the back post.

Alessandro Deiola’s volley from the edge of the area was deflected inches wide and Lapadula had the ball in the net with a sensational volley, but was offside on the corner.

Lorenzo Colombo wasted a promising counter-attack with a scuffed lob and Roberto Gagliardini had his shot charged down.