Cagliari struggled mightily, but eventually found a crucial victory by beating the surprise package Frosinone 1-0: Adopo scored at the end of the first half with a splendid right-footed shot from the edge of the box.
Fabio Pisacane's 3-4-2-1 formation features a surprise: Nicola Grandu, captain of the Primavera, making his professional debut . Not much happens in the opening minutes, so much so that the first noteworthy moment comes when—after 11 minutes—the Domus crowd applauds in memory of Gigi Riva, on what would have been his 82nd birthday. In the 14th minute, Trepy's left-footed shot from the edge of the box is easily blocked by Palmisani in two stages.
Romano found Mendy in the box in the 18th minute, but his right-footed shot was blocked by a sliding tackle from an opposing defender. At the other end, in the 23rd minute, Bîrligea received the ball centrally and, after cutting to the left, unleashed a fine left-footed shot that went just wide. An injury—Cagliari's latest in this very unfortunate period—also took Trepy off the pitch, leaving him in tears after a tackle. In the 28th minute, Sugamele, the Primavera striker, came on. Trepy was initially diagnosed with a muscle strain in his left thigh flexors . A minute later, Calò fired a fine right-footed shot from outside the area, but Caprile dived to block it.
Calò, already five goals in his first ten games, had another go in the 31st minute: from a carefully-taken corner, he fired a first-time right-foot strike, but Caprile, on his post, had to intervene on the line to prevent a 0-1. It was a crucial save, because Cagliari scored in the 38th minute with a feat by Adopo, who received the ball from Mendy, advanced to twenty meters, and unleashed a perfect right-footed shot into the top corner that Palmisani could do nothing about . Frosinone responded in the 43rd minute with a left-footed strike from Kvernadze, which went over. The half-time break followed by two minutes of added time.
Frosinone resumed the second half without Bracaglia (the only player booked), with Tchato coming on. In the 51st minute, Palmisani denied another spectacular goal, this time to Mendy, who had back-heeled a corner kick to the near post . With Mendy grounded in midfield, though not in a situation similar to the one against Lazio-Cagliari, Frosinone played and almost equalized: in the 55th minute, Ghedjemis broke away on the right and played Calò at the near post, who turned centrally, but Caprile closed the gap.
Cagliari made two substitutions in the 65th minute: Kevin Carlos and Fazzini replaced the exhausted Mendy and Maldini, while Frosinone substituted Zerbin and Hasa for Kvernadze (who had been out of the spotlight) and Schmid. Caprile saved in the 68th minute from a left-footed shot from Bîrligea, who had beaten four opponents in the box . After a pair of yellow cards in succession, for Fazzini and Grandu, Alvini opted for a double striker, pairing Bîrligea with Bobček (for Oyono).
Frosinone began to lay siege to the ball, with Caprile making a sensational double save in the 74th minute from the same play: first, from the corner, the ball passed to Cichella, and the Rossoblu goalkeeper sent his right-footed shot onto the crossbar (with the rebound coming off the line). Then the move continued, and the counter-cross found Bîrligea, whose right-footed shot was again saved by the home team's number one . The visitors then tried their luck with Hasa's left-footed shot that went wide, and Calvani's header (again from a corner) went just wide.
Pisacane realized the situation was getting complicated and took action, bringing on Liteta for Romano and Ciervo for Grandu (Rodríguez moving to the left). The visitors again took a corner, Hasa crossed, and a rebound off Sugamele freed Bîrligea on the left: Kofler's stoppage proved decisive. Then Frosinone completed their substitutions, with Fini replacing Cichella (81'). Kevin Carlos broke the pressure in the 90th minute, but he squandered a chance in the box with a poor left-footed shot over . The three minutes of injury time passed without any major incident.
