Sassuolo were back to winning ways last weekend after beating Empoli 3-0 at home to move to 14th place in the Serie A standings on 17 points, nine ahead of third-bottom Pescara.

The much-needed win saw Sassuolo put an end to a barren run of six games without victory – two draws and four defeats.

Sassuolo enjoyed an outstanding 2015-16 season.

This time last year, Eusebio Di Francesco’s side were on their way to a creditable sixth-place finish, ahead of more quoted sides in Serie A, like Milan and Torino.

Their first ever participation in the Europa League was on the horizon for Sassuolo, who had made their Serie A debut in 2013.

They started the current season with a win at Palermo and made it two wins in a row after overcoming newcomers Pescara by the odd goal in three on the second day.

However, Pescara were later awarded a 3-0 victory on the table after the Italian League ruled that Sassuolo had named Antonino Ragusa in their squad list, despite the player having not been officially registered by the club.

A period of instability followed for Sassuolo and, perhaps, the early signs of a dark patch coming up could easily be traced in their setback to Milan in the first week of October.

At the San Siro, they led 3-1 but the home side pulled one back through a Carlos Bacca penalty before Manuel Locatelli and Gabriel Paletta completed the comeback and a 4-3 win for Milan.

More poor results followed and when Sassuolo travelled to Napoli on November 28 many had expected them to concede a fifth straight defeat.

The home side dominated for long stretches but only had a Lorenzo Insigne goal to show until ten minutes from time.

Sassuolo looked down and out but then Grégoire Defrel, currently linked with a big-money move to Napoli in next month’s transfer window, hit a late equaliser to halt his side’s bleak run.

In the meantime, the Greens were also doing badly in the group stages of the Europa League.

With one game left (tomorrow at home to Genk), Sassuolo are bottom of Group F with just five points in five games.

A 3-0 home win over Athletic Bilbao augured well for Sassuolo but they were non-starters against Genk as they crashed to a 3-1 defeat in Belgium.

Back-to-back draws with Rapid Wien hampered Sassuolo’s chances of reaching the knock-out stages before a 3-2 setback in Bilbao eventually killed off their hopes.

To hit the ground running in Europe, Sassuolo were left with no choice but to start their pre-season as early as June.

That left a devastating effect on the squad with a lengthy injury list to deal with as a consequence.

Striker Domenico Berardi – Sassuolo’s best player last season – has been out since August 29 and veteran defender Paolo Canna-varo has only been involved in six league games so far.

Holding midfielder Alfred Duncan managed a mere five games this season.

Dual challenge

As many might have expected, Sassuolo found the double challenge of the Serie A and Europa League too big to handle because Di Francesco does not have a sizeable squad to rely on.

Sassuolo were playing in the fourth tier of Italian football a decade ago but now are facing a reality check.

Maybe last season’s high-place finish in the Serie A came a bit too early for a modest club from a small town in the province of Modena with a population of just 41,000.

Nonetheless, the men available for Di Francesco are enough for him to keep the side above water especially now that Berardi is close to making his much-awaited return.

Given their elimination from Europe, Sassuolo can now shift their focus solely to the Serie A… a mid-table trouble-free spot is well within their reach.

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