Okereke ends Serie A goal drought in Venezia's defeat against Sassuolo

BetOdds African All Stars Venezia Sassuolo Sassuolo v Venezia Serie A David Okereke

The Nigeria forward's effort was not enough for the Winged Lions who suffered their fifth loss in the Italian top-flight this term

David Okereke ended his five-game goal drought in the Serie A as Venezia suffered a 3-1 defeat against Sassuolo on Saturday.

After grabbing their second win of the season against Fiorentina last weekend, Okereke got the visitors off to a flying start at the Mapei Stadium - Citta del Tricolore with his first-half opener.

After linking up with Ethan Ampadu, the 24-year-old curled in a right-footed strike to give Venezia the lead in the 32nd minute. The strike ended up being the only goal for Paolo Zanetti's side as they conceded three goals later.

Domenico Berardi equalised for Sassuolo in the 37th minute, while Thomas Henry scored an own goal five minutes into the second-half before Davide Frattesi sealed their comeback win in the 66th minute.

Okereke played the entire duration for Venezia, which was his eighth Serie A appearance since he moved to Italy on a season-long loan from Club Brugge in August.

He has now scored two league goals so far, after he opened his goal account for the Winged Lions in a 2-1 loss to Empoli on September 11.

Super Eagles right-back Tyronne Ebuehi was also in action for the visitors in Sassuolo but he was later replaced by Pasquale Mazzocchi in the 68th minute.

The defeat left Venezia in 16th spot with eight points after nine matches, and they are just two points away from the drop zone.

Zanetti, at the end of the game, rued his team’s character after they found themselves behind in the second half.

“We had the right initial approach in a difficult arena against a team that has a lot of quality,” Zanetti told DAZN, as per Football Italia.

“Unfortunately, until the own goal we were more than in the game and could even have gone into the break 2-1 up, as the goalkeeper performed a miracle. That would’ve made it a completely different match.

“I will be honest, I did not like our attitude after we conceded in the second half. We weren’t as aggressive as usual and also lost Gianluca Busio to injury.

“I don’t want to seek any alibis, because we deserved the defeat, as we were a different team in the second half and it is something we absolutely need to work on.”

2021-10-23 23:00:25

Comments

Send Your Comment

Download Application