Monza, managed by Croatian coach Ivan Jurić (51), convincingly defeated Cagliari 4-0 in their match in the seventh round of the Italian Serie A. Portuguese forward Gustavo Varela was the double scorer, while Eddy Kouadio and Jay Robinson added one goal each.
Monza took the lead in the 39th minute through a goal by Kouadio, which was his first in Serie A. The visitors had previously had two good chances through M'Bale Nzola and Paul Mendy, but home goalkeeper Noel Törnqvist intervened successfully on both occasions. Just two minutes after the start of the second half, Varela extended Monza's lead to 2-0. In the 66th minute, the same player assisted Robinson for the third goal, and in the 79th minute, he set the final score at 4-0 after Robinson's shot hit the crossbar.
This is Jurić's sixth win with a four-goal margin in his independent senior managerial career. He achieved the first in October 2015, when he led Crotone to a 4-0 victory over Salernitana in Serie B. He achieved the same result four times on the Torino bench: in September 2021, he beat Salernitana 4-0; in January 2022, he defeated Fiorentina by the same score — in that win, Croatian international Josip Brekalo scored two goals, while the remaining two were added by Wilfried Singo and Antonio Sanabria; in October 2022, Torino under Jurić's guidance beat Cittadella 4-0 in the Italian Cup; and in May 2023, they won 4-0 away at Spezia.
Cagliari entered the seventh round in fourth place in Serie A, with 13 points won and a run of four league matches without defeat. In the previous round, they drew 1-1 against Juventus. Fabia Pisacane's team had the league's best defence — in the first six rounds, they conceded only three goals, the fewest in the league. However, Monza scored four against Cagliari in a single match.
Jurić's team had won only four points in the first six rounds, with one win, one draw and four defeats. They conceded as many as 15 goals, which was the second-worst defensive record in the league. With the victory, Monza reached seven points, and this is their second league win since returning to Serie A this summer, after spending the previous season in the second tier of Italian football.
Jurić took over Monza at the beginning of July after unsuccessful spells on the benches of Roma, Southampton and Atalanta. Monza's next match is on Friday, 23 October, when they visit Torino — the club Jurić managed from 2021 to 2024.
