SASSUOLO 1 V JUVENTUS 0 - MAPEI STADIUM - SERIE A - 16th APRIL 2023

Union Sportivo Sassuolo had spent a long period of their existence in the amatuer regional leagues of Emilia Romagna before promotion to Serie D in the 60's and after a bit of bouncing around the divisions, they established themselves in Serie C in the late 1990's and 2000's. In 2003 their fortunes changes with chemical company Mapei taking ownership of the club, reaching Serie B for the first time in 2008 and A in 2013.  They play their home games in the city of Reggio Emilia at the Mapei owned stadium of the same name. The stadium  is shared with Reggiana, the team of the city of Reggio Emilia and whom the stadium was originally built for in 1995. The 40,000 population of Sassuolo is 25km away and Sassuolo's success, combined with the financial fall of Reggiana witnessed the change of stadium ownership and Reggiana now find themselves tennants in a stadium originally built for them.

Getting there - If you like a good walk, this is your place. The stadium sits a couple of km out of town and the train station. According to google it has its own station (Reggio Stadio)  but trains run very infrequently and bizarrely its seems not in combination with any event at the stadium.  That was a little odd but it was a good place to walk off lunch and a 9 euro litre of local red wine.  Im sure there was a local bus but it seemed most people were walking. Once at the stadium there is very little on offer to wet your whistle with exception of a shopping centre underneath one of the stands with  a few chain restaurants

Getting in - tickets online from VIVATICKET but for this game it was pretty impossible without an Italian fidelity card seemingly selling to only local fans. I didnt give up though and sent a mail to the Sassuolo FC  ticket email address 5 days before game stating we were 4 English blokes coming for a football  weekend and could they spare 4 tickets. They could. Boom!  After many return emails using google translate and money transfer via IBAN we had 4 tickets for what we thought would be the highlight game of the weekend. It wasn't! 

What its like -  The stinker of Sassuolo!  This was the last game of the weekend and much anticipated. Whether it was Juventus having a Europa league hangover and resting players or Sassuolo looking ahead to the beach from their mid table position, this was a poor one in terms of quality which it lacked largely from minute 1 to 95. Both teams finding it difficult to find a   last pass, or a penultimate one for that matter. Apart from the goal from 2nd half substitute Defrel,  it was largely forgettable. As always the away fans made up for it in large numbers and voice.  Not sure id go again.