Sassuolo forward is rarest of beasts – a one-club man – and virtuoso display against Atalanta reinforced his hero status
The man with the moustache held his teammate in a headlock and stared down the TV camera lens. “Berardi!” he yelled, jabbing a finger at the back of his colleague’s bonce. “BE-RAR-DI!”
It felt like that moment in a kids’ movie when the big brother drags his meek sibling back into frame after beating up the school bully. Mess with him again and see what happens. Only, Tarik Muharemovic is nine years younger than Domenico Berardi. And it was the older player, again, who had spent this afternoon tormenting his peers.
Berardi had just scored the final goal of Sassuolo’s 3-0 win away to Atalanta. An astonishing result, on the face of it. Atalanta won the Europa League a year ago and have qualified for the Champions League in four of the past six seasons. Sassuolo played last season in Serie B.
That is not the whole picture. Atalanta also changed manager in the summer, Gian Piero Gasperini leaving after nine years to take over at Roma, with whom he now sits top of Serie A. His were tough shoes to fill, and so far Ivan Juric has struggled to do so. Atalanta and Sassuolo began the weekend level on points, joint-11th in the table.
