One of European football’s best emerging talents looking to derail the league leaders’ promotion push. The best defence in Serie B squaring off against the best attack in the division. If football is all about narratives, it is difficult to look past those two as Spezia host Sassuolo on Friday night.

It’s third versus first in calcio‘s second tier and it’s very much the match of the round, with some of the division’s biggest talents on show.

In Francesco Pio Esposito, Spezia have Serie B’s top goalscorer and arguably one of the brightest prospects in European football.

The 19-year-old, who is on loan from Inter Milan, has scored 11 goals in 21 appearances in all competitions, the most of any player born from 2005 onwards across the first and second divisions of Europe’s top five leagues.

Esposito, was on the scoresheet on Sunday, grabbing a brace in a 4-0 demolition of Carrarese away from home, which revived Spezia’s promotion bid after they had picked up just two points from their previous three fixtures.

The teenager accounts for almost a third of the 34 goals Spezia have scored in Serie B this season, with the Aquilotti‘s success firmly built upon a rock-solid defence which has conceded a league-best 14 goals.

Sassuolo, then, should provide the ultimate test. Top of the league with a five-point lead over Pisa and a 10-point gap over Spezia, the Neroverdi have scored goals for fun in Serie B this season, plundering 50 in 22 matches at a ratio of 2.27 goals per 90 minutes.

Armand Lauriente has nine goals this season, while Nicholas Pierini and Kristian Thorstvedt have eight and seven respectively and Samuele Mulattieri has chipped in with five. 

Throw in Domenico Berardi’s four goals and 10 assists and it is easy to understand why Sassuolo have been a nightmare to defend against.

Spezia are the only team to have stopped Sassuolo from scoring this season and Luca D’Angelo dismissed the suggestion his side may change their approach to stifle their opponents, suggesting instead he will stick to his trusted 3-5-2 formation.

“I don’t think we’ll make many tactical changes,” he said on Thursday. “Sassuolo are having a great season, but I don’t believe we can catch them off guard just by changing our formation. Instead, we’ll focus on playing our game and exploiting our strengths.”

Sassuolo are indeed having a great season. After a slow start, they have lived up to their billing of promotion favourites and hit their stride in spectacular fashion as autumn made way for winter, winning 10 of their 11 matches in the lead up to Christmas.

But a 3-1 defeat by Pisa on Boxing Day checked their momentum and Fabio Grosso’s men required two goals in the last five minutes to prevail over Cosenza in their final outing of 2024.

A 2-1 win in Salerno was followed by a 5-3 victory over Sudtirol on Sunday, when the league leaders had to come from behind twice to deny the team second from bottom in Serie B a famous scalp.

If there’s one chink to find in Sassuolo’s armour it is their performances against the top teams in the division. In the first half of the season, the Neroverdi have only beaten one of the teams currently occupying the top six in Serie B – that was Palermo last month – and were second-best in the defeat against Pisa.

“We’ve been working on improving our performance in these types of games,” Grosso said. “We’re fully prepared for tomorrow’s challenge.”

When Grosso led Frosinone to Serie A two seasons ago, his side went top of the table after 10 matches and never looked back, finishing seven points clear of Genoa.

The parallels with the current campaign are obvious, but the 2006 World Cup winner insisted Sassuolo were not looking too far ahead.

“We’re excited about this match. It’s a big game between two strong teams,” he said. “While a win would be huge for us, we know there’s still a long way to go. We’re not getting complacent. We’re focused on the task at hand and we’re determined to give our best performance.”

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