Serie A | Monza 1-2 Cagliari: Relegation battle goes to Sardinians | OneFootball

Cagliari fought back for a potentially decisive relegation dogfight victory away to troubled Monza, who crumbled even before the harsh Danilo D’Ambrosio red card.

This was a pure battle between the bottom two, as the hosts made their debut under Salvatore Bocchetti with a dramatic 2-1 defeat at Parma. Pablo Mari saw red in that game and was therefore suspended, with Georgios Kyriakopoulos, Matteo Pessina, Roberto Gagliardini and Alessio Cragno injured. Zito Luvumbo and Jakub Jankto missed the trip for the Sardinians, who had lost four on the bounce.

See how it unfolded on the Liveblog.

It was a frantic start to the match, as after 90 seconds a Cagliari corner was flicked on to the back post for Mattia Felici to acrobatically volley onto the woodwork.

However, moments later Patrick Ciurria saw his shot deflected by Antoine Makoumbou’s fingertips from six yards and the penalty was inevitable following a VAR review. Simone Scuffet got close, but Gianluca Caprari drilled the spot-kick right into the near bottom corner to put Monza in front.

Stefano Turati flew to palm a Nicolas Viola curler away, but could do nothing on the Nadir Zortea left-foot scorcher from outside the D that drew Cagliari level.

MONZA, ITALY – JANUARY 05: Nadir Zortea of Cagliari scores his team’s first goal during the Serie A match between Monza and Cagliari at U-Power Stadium on January 05, 2025 in Monza, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

The Sardinians turned the game around completely when Michel Adopo won it back in midfield to spark the Adam Obert counter-attack, culminating in a ferocious Roberto Piccoli right-foot strike into the near top corner.

Viola’s angled drive flashed just wide moments later, while Pedro Pereira went on a surge through the centre of defence and tested Scuffet one-on-one.

However, things went from bad to worse for Monza when Danilo D’Ambrosio got into a tangle with Yerry Mina at the touchline and unnecessarily stuck out a boot into the Colombian’s crotch. VAR and the referee considered it a voluntary action and showed the straight red card.

Gianluca Lapadula came close to a third in stoppages, his angled drive bouncing off the inside of the far post.

Monza nearly snatched an equaliser down to 10 men, as Samuele Birindelli’s wayward cross turned into a shot that had to be fingertipped over the bar.

Caprari pen 6 (M), Zortea 22 (C), Piccoli 56 (C)

Sent off: D’Ambrosio 63 (M)