Stefano Turati may find himself at the centre of Sassuolo’s Sunday afternoon against Milan, with first-choice goalkeeper Arijanet Muric awaiting assessment after returning from Kosovo duty with a heavy knock. For Turati, a possible league debut this season would carry the particular weight of a Milan match for a goalkeeper raised in Inter’s academy and shaped by years in the Curva Nord.
Key takeaways
- Muric was an unused substitute in Kosovo’s recent games against Israel and Austria after suffering a significant contusion.
- Turati has played once for Sassuolo this season, helping them eliminate Frosinone on penalties in the Coppa Italia round of 32.
- He saved Amey’s penalty in that cup tie.
- The Milan fixture would be Turati’s fifth Serie A meeting with the Rossoneri, after appearances for Frosinone, Monza and Sassuolo.
- His only professional victory over Milan came with Sassuolo at the Mapei Stadium on 3 May.
A decision for Sassuolo and Aquilani
The choice between the posts will depend on Muric’s condition once Sassuolo’s medical staff have examined him. The Kosovo goalkeeper stayed with his national side despite the injury, a detail that suggests the problem may not be serious, but he did not play in either of the matches against Israel and Austria.
That uncertainty has left Turati preparing for an opportunity beside Alberto Aquilani. The 24-year-old has so far been limited to the cup match against Frosinone, a contest Sassuolo won in the shoot-out after his intervention against Amey.
Milan’s visit to Reggio Emilia is not an ordinary assignment for him. Turati has already faced the Rossoneri four times in Serie A across spells at Frosinone, Monza and Sassuolo. The latest of those meetings, on 3 May, brought his sole win against them as a professional, when Sassuolo beat a Milan side already struggling for direction at the Mapei Stadium.
There is also one less pleasant memory from his Frosinone years: after Milan’s third goal in one match, the visiting supporters sang that goals were inevitable with Turati in goal. If Muric cannot recover in time, those previous encounters will form part of the background to a far more personal afternoon.
An Inter supporter facing the other side of Milan
Turati was born and brought up in Milan, came through Inter’s youth system and remained there until 2017. He was 16 when an Inter official told him there would be no further place for him at the club. The disappointment was severe enough for him to consider leaving football altogether, before his mother, Roberta, persuaded him to continue elsewhere.
Inter, however, remained central to his identity. Turati has spoken of having been “formed in the curva”, and has been pictured among the Nerazzurri support, including shirtless at the Olimpico during the Coppa Italia final against Fiorentina. Reflecting on playing at San Siro for Monza against Inter, he described the change in perspective: “I thought, ‘I used to be one of the 75,000 and now I am one of the 22.’”
His attachment was strong enough that he once asked Fabio Grosso for permission to attend both legs of an Inter-Milan Champions League derby while he was at Frosinone. Grosso initially laughed, believing it was a joke. Turati was serious, but was not allowed to travel for the first leg because Frosinone had not yet secured promotion to Serie A; he attended the return instead.
Former coach Roberto De Zerbi once described him as “completely crazy”, a label that sits comfortably within the temperament often demanded of a goalkeeper. Turati has previously said that his childhood ambition was to captain Inter, although Milan has appeared in other parts of his career: Adriano Galliani’s role in his move to Monza and his admiration for Mike Maignan among the goalkeepers he rates most highly.
Those are individual connections rather than any softening of the city’s divide. On Sunday, should the medical verdict on Muric open the door, Turati could meet Milan carrying both Sassuolo’s immediate need and a lifetime spent on the other side of the rivalry.
