After a painful first half, Cagliari overturned Ascoli with an applause recovery and returned to success with a 4-1 round.
Ranieri, surprisingly, focuses on a super offensive eleven, with Makoumbou and Nandez an unprecedented pair in the midfield and the trio Luvumbo, Mancosu and Millico behind Lapadula, for a 4-2-3-1.
Cagliari starts strong. After 8' Giovane stops a shot without fail from Luvumbo, while in the 10th minute a right-footed shot from Mancosu ends just wide. But there is also Ascoli, which in the 16th minute engages Radunovic with Gondo and then, in the 19th minute, passes with Forte, precise in front of goal on Collocolo's cross from the right.
The goal sent Cagliari into confusion and in the 22nd minute Botteghin, from a corner action, even came close to making it 2-0. The reaction is all in a central header by Dossena, saved by Leali. In the 34th minute, as if that wasn't enough, Luvumbo stopped due to a muscle problem and was replaced by Lella. The half ends with the contestation of the curve and the advantage of the guests.
In the second half, Azzi and Prelec took over from Barreca and Millico, but Cagliari was completely different. In the 7th minute, Mancosu ends up on the ground and the referee first warns him for simulation, then after the intervention of the Var he warns Botteghin and decrees the penalty. Lapadula gets hypnotized by Leali, but picks up the rebuttal and makes it 1-1.
It's a rossoblù monologue and in the 16th minute Mancosu talks with Lapadula and signs the pass with a right-footed applause. There's no more game, Cagliari spreads and again Lapadula, in the 39th minute, collects a perfect cross from the left from Azzi and makes it 3-1 with a header. There was time to see Deiola again and for Zappa's first rossoblù goal, in the 43rd minute, for the 4-1 that transformed the whistles into applause and relaunched Cagliari.
