Modena vs Cesena 3-0

Modena beat Cesena 3-0 at Alberto Braglia after Cesena were reduced to 10 men in the first five minutes and never recovered. Andrea Belotti scored twice for the home side before a Gianluca Frabotta own goal gave the visitors a brief route back into the contest.

The turning point came in the 2nd minute when VAR confirmed a card upgrade for Antonio Fiori, and Cesena were then left with 10 men on 5 minutes. Modena took advantage through Belotti, who opened the scoring in the 19th minute from Gastón Brugman’s assist, before the same striker made it 2-0 on 32 minutes with Daniel Tonoli providing the pass. Cesena pulled one back three minutes later when Frabotta put through his own net, but Modena still went in 2-1 ahead.

Cesena made two changes at the break and Modena replaced Daniel Tonoli with Antonio Imputato on 45 minutes, but the pattern did not change. Modena made two more changes on 57 minutes, with Wisdom Acquah and Daniele Montevago coming on for Alessandro Bianco and Belotti, while Cesena made two changes on 61 minutes. The hosts then saw out the rest of the match without being seriously threatened and added further control through more substitutions, with Luca Bacchin replacing Giuseppe Ambrosino on 66 minutes and Kleis Bozhanaj coming on for Bryant Nieling on 79 minutes.

The numbers backed that up. Modena had 69% possession, 653 passes and 18 shots to Cesena's 289 passes and 4 attempts. They also led the shots on target count 4-1, corners 6-1 and xG 1.97-0.18, while Cesena had 2 saves to Modena's 1 and both sides were offside once.

Cesena's Antonio Fiori was sent off after the VAR review in the 2nd minute, and Mihajlo Ilic was booked in the 20th minute before he was replaced at half-time. Modena finished with no yellow cards and no red cards.