REGGIO EMILIA – Inter have bowed out of 2015/16 with a 3-1 defeat away against Sassuolo but end the season in fourth place – the club's best finish in five seasons.
The hosts had the best of the first half and went it at the break 3-1 up, despite Inter threatening to come back into the contest when Rodrigo Palacio scored to make it 2-1. Had Danilo D'Ambrosio's goal at the beginning of the second half been allowed to stand, the game might have been a different story but on balance the result at the final whistle was fair.
For the last game of the season, Roberto Mancini opted for Juan Pablo Carrizo between the sticks; a back four of Danilo D'Ambrosio, Jeison Murillo, Juan Jesus and Alex Telles; Marcelo Brozovic, Felipe Melo and Geoffrey Kondogbia in midfield; and a front three of Stevan Jovetic, Eder and skipper for the day Rodrigo Palacio.
Inter had the ball in the net in the fourth minute when Jovetic beat Andrea Consigli after being released by Palacio, but it was disallowed as the Montenegrin was in an offside position.
Two minutes later, Sassuolo took the lead but there was a heavy slice of good fortune in the goal: Matteo Politano picked the ball up 25 yards out and let fly with a speculative effort that took a heavy deflection off Murillo, fooling Carrizo in goal.
The Nerazzurri created a couple of decent openings in response but couldn't make any stick and were made to pay when Lorenzo Pellegrini doubled the Neroverdi's advantage in the 26th minute. Alfred Duncan played the ball across the six-yard box looking for Nicola Sansone, who was offside but let the ball run across to Pellegrini at the far post to tap home into an empty net.
Mancini's men halved the deficit five minutes later when Brozovic forced Francesco Manganelli into an error on the edge of his box. The ball ran through to Palacio who was left with an easy one-on-one and made no mistake.
The Nerazzurri comeback proved to be short-lived, however, as Politano popped up in between Inter's central defenders in the 38th minute to nod home a Marcello Gazzola cross from the right.
Inter looked to have got a foothold back in the game at the beginning of the second half when Kondogbia clipped a ball back into the area after a corner and D'Ambrosio guided it home. However, Andrea Gervasoni disallowed another Nerazzurri goal for offside, although replays suggested the referee had called this particular decision incorrectly.
The energy soon began to drain out of the game, compounded by Murillo who got himself sent off when he was shown a second yellow for dissent after being booked for a foul on Diego Falcinelli.
With just a few minutes of the season left, Mancini decided to hand first-team debuts to Primavera stars Ionut Radu and Fabio Della Giovanna.
SASSUOLO 3-1 INTER (HT: 3-1)
Scorers: Politano 6 and 39, Pellegrini 26, Palacio 32.
SASSUOLO: 47 Consigli; 23 Gazzola, 28 Cannavaro, 15 Acerbi, 13 Peluso; 6 Pellegrini (7 Missiroli, 74), 4 Magnanelli, 32 Duncan; 16 Politano (8 Biondini, 80), 92 Defrel (9 Falcinelli, 51), 17 Sansone.
Subs not used: 1 Pomini, 79 Pegolo, 3 Longhi, 5 Antei, 29 Trotta.
Coach: Eusebio Di Francesco.
INTER: 30 Carrizo (98 Radu, 72); 33 D'Ambrosio, 24 Murillo, 5 Jesus, 12 Telles; 77 Brozovic, 83 Melo, 7 Kondogbia (55 Nagatomo, 70); 23 Eder, 10 Jovetic, 8 Palacio (28 Della Giovanna, 82).
Subs not used: 11 Biabiany, 21 Santon, 27 Gnoukouri, 29 Miangue, 34 Bonetto, 92 Baldini, 96 Gyamfi, 97 Manaj, 99 Correia.
Coach: Roberto Mancini.
Yellow cards: Telles 22, Magnanelli 31, Brozovic 55, Murillo 59, Duncan 67, Jesus 67, Cannavaro 85.
Red cards: Murillo 60.
Injury time: 1+2 minutes.
Referee: Andrea Gervasoni.
Assistants: Francesco De Luca, Valentino Fiorito.
Fourth official: Salvatore Longo.
Additional assistants: Paolo Valeri, Daniele Doveri.
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