Serie A | Monza 1-0 Cagliari: Maldini magic

Originally posted on Football Italia | By Susy Campanale | Last updated 3/16/24

A fantastic Daniel Maldini free kick proved enough to give Monza all three points and stall the Cagliari climb up the table.

The hosts had won three of their last four, but Danilo D’Ambrosio joined Samuele Vignato and Gianluca Caprari on the absentee list. The Sardinians pulled themselves out of the relegation zone with back-to-back victories over Empoli and Salernitana, despite an injury crisis ruling out Yerry Mina, Gianluca Gaetano, Andrea Petagna, Zito Luvumbo, Leonardo Pavoletti and Marco Mancosu.

See how it unfolded on the Liveblog.

Eldor Shomurodov was pulled back just outside the box and Gianluca Lapadula sent that low free kick inches wide of the near post, managing to drill it under the wall as it jumped.

Monza took the lead with a sensational free kick from Daniel Maldini, who curled it over the wall, thumping the underside of the crossbar and bouncing over the line, giving Simone Scuffet no chance. Remarkably, his father Paolo also scored against a Cagliari side with Claudio Ranieri as the coach in February 1991 for Milan.

Dany Mota Carvalho could’ve made it 2-0 before the break, only to turn a relatively free header wide of the back post.

Andrea Colpani and Dany Mota drilled efforts across the face of goal, while a crucial Andrea Carboni defensive intervention stopped Shomurodov sliding onto the tap-in at the back post.

Alessandro Deiola’s volley from the edge of the area was deflected inches wide and Lapadula had the ball in the net with a sensational volley, but was offside on the corner.

Lorenzo Colombo wasted a promising counter-attack with a scuffed lob and Roberto Gagliardini had his shot charged down.

Monza 1-0 Cagliari

Maldini 42 (M)

16-03-2024 14:00 MatchDay 29 Stadio Brianteo (U-Power Stadium)

Monza

Cagliari 1 - 0

Player statistic

1st half

Armando Izzo		30'
Daniel Maldini

41' 2nd half

		59'		Alessandro Deiola
Warren Bondo

65'

Match statistic

62 Possession % 38 15 Total shots 10 3 Shots on target 0 6 Shots off target 7 6 Blocked shots 3 3 Corners 7 1 Offsides 3 11 Fouls 9 Monza Cagliari

Starting lineups

16 Michele Di Gregorio Goalkeeper 44 Andrea Carboni Defender 4

Armando Izzo Defender 22

Pablo Marí Defender 19 Samuele Birindelli Defender 75' 28

Andrea Colpani Midfielder 75' 27 Daniel Maldini Midfielder 63' 32

Matteo Pessina Midfielder 38

Warren Bondo Midfielder 47 Dany Mota Attacker 63' 11

Milan Djuric Attacker 82' 22

Simone Scuffet Goalkeeper 4 Alberto Dossena Defender 28 Gabriele Zappa Defender 23

Mateusz Wieteska Defender 27

Tommaso Augello Defender 84' 14

Alessandro Deiola Midfielder 88' 29 Antoine Makoumbou Midfielder 46' 21

Jakub Jankto Midfielder 46' 8

Nahitan Nández Midfielder 61

Eldor Shomurodov Attacker

84' 9

Gianluca Lapadula Attacker

Substitutes

Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro Midfielder 77

Georgios Kyriakopoulos Defender 2

Giulio Donati Defender 13

Pedro Pereira Midfielder 7 José Machín Midfielder 84 Patrick Ciurria Attacker 66 Stefano Gori Goalkeeper 23 Alessandro Sorrentino Goalkeeper 6

Roberto Gagliardini Midfielder 63' 20 Alessio Zerbin Attacker 63' 5

Luca Caldirola Defender 75' 21 Valentín Carboni Midfielder 75' 9 Lorenzo Colombo Attacker 82' 18

Simone Aresti Goalkeeper 1

Boris Radunović Goalkeeper 33 Adam Obert Defender 99 Alessandro Di Pardo Defender 17

Pantelis Chatzidiakos Defender 25 Ibrahim Sulemana Midfielder 16 Matteo Prati Midfielder 46' 19 Gaetano Oristanio Midfielder 46' 37 Paulo Azzi Attacker 84' 34

Kingstone Mutandwa Attacker 84' 10

Nicolas Viola Midfielder

88'

This article first appeared on Football Italia and was syndicated with permission.

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