Raimondo's hat-trick sends Frosinone into Serie A's top four

Frosinone have moved into the Serie A top four after an entertaining 4-2 home victory over Sassuolo on Friday evening, with Italy U21 star Antonio Raimondo scoring a hat-trick to drive his side to the win.

Frosinone came into the game looking to bounce back from a 3-0 defeat to Napoli in their last Serie A outing. Their season had started strongly with victories over Fiorentina, Venezia and Como, which earned head coach Massimiliano Alvini the Serie A coach of the month award for September.

Sassuolo have had a mixed start to the 2026-27 campaign, including a 1-1 draw at Milan last weekend, a 2-1 defeat to Monza, a 3-2 win over Juventus and a 2-2 draw with Bologna.

Early goals set the tone

The hosts were gifted the lead inside the first 10 minutes. Sassuolo were caught trying to play out from the back: Arijanet Muric passed to Darryl Bakola inside the Neroverdi area, the midfielder was dispossessed, and the ball fell for Giacomo Calò, who finished one-on-one into the roof of the net.

Bakola quickly made amends, winning the ball himself to halt another Frosinone attack before launching a first-time pass to Domenico Berardi. The Italian ran unopposed into the opposition half, rounded Lorenzo Palmisani and finished into an empty net from a tight angle to level the game.

Frosinone were back in front 10 minutes later. Muric failed to deal with a cross that landed on the edge of the six-yard box, spilled the ball, and Raimondo poked home from close range.

Raimondo doubles his tally

Raimondo, who had been named Serie A rising star of the month for September before kick-off, capitalised on another Sassuolo error at the back. A poor backwards header from Cas Odenthal was missed by Muric, and Raimondo read the bounce perfectly to steal the ball and finish into an empty net.

There were more goals before half-time. Kristian Thorstvedt and Sebastiano Esposito combined in a neat one-two that took three Frosinone defenders out of the play, allowing Thorstvedt to race through and finish past Palmisani one-on-one to make it 3-2.

Muric keeps Sassuolo in it

The first half was end-to-end, with Muric needed to keep out Raimondo at his near post shortly after the restart. Romano Schmid, still searching for his first Serie A goal, came close to scoring in the top corner early in the second half, only for Muric to produce a strong one-handed diving save.

Raimondo completed his hat-trick 10 minutes after the restart. Giorgi Kvernadze delivered a cross from a corner, Fares Ghedjemis headed back across goal forcing a save from Muric, and the rebound fell kindly for Raimondo to tap in.

League standing

The result lifts Frosinone to fourth in the Serie A table with 13 points from their first seven matches back in the top flight. Sassuolo, with eight points, sit 11th, though nine matches remain in the season.

Goalscorers: Calò (F) 9', Berardi (S) 15', Raimondo (F) 26', 30', 57', Thorstvedt (S) 37'. Kieron Bowie came on for Sassuolo and was booked late on.