Muric gifted Raimondo two goals in four minutes, and promoted Frosinone are fourth in Serie A

Antonio Raimondo will not score an easier hat-trick. Two of his three goals for Frosinone against Sassuolo on Friday night were tap-ins handed to him by Arijanet Muric, and the third came after a save that dropped at his feet. Nobody at the Stadio Benito Stirpe was complaining. Frosinone won 4-2, and the club that came up from Serie B in May went to bed fourth in Serie A.

That position may not survive the weekend, with the rest of the seventh round still to be played. But 13 points from seven games is already a serious return for a newly promoted side, and this was a performance that showed why.

Five goals before half-time

Frosinone were ahead inside nine minutes. Muric played the ball short to Darryl Bakola in the Sassuolo area, Bakola was caught in possession, and Giacomo Calò finished one-on-one into the roof of the net.

Bakola made up for it almost straight away. He won the ball back and sent Domenico Berardi clear with a first-time pass, and Berardi got around goalkeeper Lorenzo Palmisani to roll it into an empty net from a tight angle in the 15th minute.

Then Muric’s evening fell apart. In the 26th minute he came for a low cross, failed to deal with it, and the ball sat up for Raimondo to poke home from close range. Four minutes later a poor headed back-pass drew Muric out of his box, he misjudged the bounce, and Raimondo nipped in to roll the ball into another unguarded goal.

Sassuolo still had enough about them to make it 3-2 before the break. Kristian Thorstvedt and Sebastiano Esposito played a one-two that took three Frosinone defenders out of the game, and Thorstvedt finished past Palmisani in the 37th minute.

Raimondo finishes the job

To his credit, Muric kept Sassuolo in it for a while after half-time, diving to push away a Romano Schmid shot that was heading for the top corner. He could not stop the fourth. From the second phase of a corner in the 57th minute, Giorgi Kvernadze crossed, Fares Ghedjemis headed it back across goal, Muric parried, and Raimondo was there again to tuck in the rebound and take the match ball home.

Sassuolo had little to say after that, even after Alberto Aquilani’s changes. They stay on eight points in 11th place.

A promoted side that keeps scoring

Frosinone finished second in Serie B last season, a point behind champions Venezia, and sealed promotion with a 5-0 win over Mantova on the final day in May. Plenty of promoted sides spend the autumn trying not to concede. Massimiliano Alvini’s team have gone the other way. They have already beaten Fiorentina, Venezia and Como, and Alvini was named Serie A coach of the month for August and September. He was handed the trophy before kick-off on Friday.

The 3-0 defeat at Napoli last time out was a reminder of how quickly the league can bite. Friday was the answer to it.

Raimondo has been at the centre of all of this. The 22-year-old Italy Under-21 forward is on a season-long loan from Bologna, scored braces against Fiorentina and Venezia in the opening weeks, and picked up Serie A’s rising star of the month award before the game. Two of Friday’s goals were gifts, but he was in the right place for all three, which is what strikers who score a lot of goals tend to be.

Whether Frosinone can stay anywhere near the top four is another question, and probably not one anyone at the club is asking yet. In May they were still a Serie B side.

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