Domenico Berardi

In doing so, he became the second youngest player to score four goals in a single Serie A match – the youngest was the 18-year-old Silvio Piola in 1931 – and the first player to score four in a league match against Milan.

He reached 30 league goals in 59 games, noted by UEFA to be quicker than the 70 matches taken for Lionel Messi to reach that milestone; at the age of 20, he also became the youngest player to reach 30 Serie A goals since 1958.

Domenico Berardi ( born 1 August 1994) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a forward or right winger for club Sassuolo and the Italy national team.

On 28 August, he continued his goalscoring run, netting a goal in a 2–1 home win over Pescara, becoming the youngest Italian player since the 1994–95 season to score 40 goals in Serie A, and the second youngest player overall, behind Alexandre Pato, at the age of 22 years and 27 days; he later suffered an injury during the match, and it was later announced that he had suffered knee ligament damage, ruling him out for the rest of the calendar year.

Berardi began his club career with Sassuolo in 2012, helping the team win the Serie B title and earn promotion to Serie A in his debut season, being named the best player of the competition.

He made his senior debut for Sassuolo in Serie B on 27 August 2012, at the age of 18, in a 3–0 away win over Cesena, and scored his first professional goal five days later, in a 2–1 home win over Crotone.

In 2013, he was named Best Player of the Serie B in the past season in the annual Gran Galà del calcio awards, after helping Sassuolo win the Serie B title, and an historic promotion to Serie A, scoring 11 goals.

In June 2013, he was described as the "undoubted star of the [Sassuolo] side."

On 2 September 2013, Juventus confirmed via their official website that Berardi had joined the club on a co-ownership basis that saw Luca Marrone transfer in the opposite direction, both for a fee of €4.5 million.

Berardi remained with Sassuolo on a season-long loan deal for the 2013–14 season.

He made his Serie A debut at the age of 19, in a 1–1 away draw against Napoli, on 25 September 2013.

He scored his first Serie A goal from a penalty on 6 October 2013, in a 3–1 defeat to Parma.

On 20 October, he scored a penalty as Sassuolo defeated Bologna 2–1 for their first Serie A win, moving them off bottom spot.

He scored a hat-trick, including two penalties, in Sassuolo's first ever Serie A away win, 4–3 against Sampdoria on 3 November 2013.

On 12 January 2014, Berardi scored all four goals in a 4–3 home win against AC Milan.

On 6 May 2014, Berardi scored a first-half hat-trick in 4–3 away win at Fiorentina.

He finished the season with 16 goals in 29 games in the league as Sassuolo avoided relegation.

In July 2014, Berardi's agent confirmed that he would remain on loan at Sassuolo for another season; the co-ownership deal was also renewed on 20 June 2014.

He finished the 2014–15 Serie A season with 15 goals and 10 assists, and was one of the top assist providers in the league.

His prolific performances in Serie A saw him emerge as one of Italy's most promising young footballers, and earned him the Bravo Award in 2015.

He is currently Sassuolo's all-time top scorer, with over 100 goals in all competitions.

On 17 May 2015, he scored a hat-trick at the Mapei Stadium in a 3–2 win over Milan.

On 25 June 2015, it was announced through an official statement that co-ownership was resolved in favour of Sassuolo for €10 million.

It was reported that it was part of Simone Zaza's deal to Juventus.

Berardi opened the 2015–16 Serie A season with a Man of the Match performance in a 2–1 home win over Napoli, setting up Floro Flores's goal; however, he also picked up an injury during the match, which would reportedly rule him out for a month and a half.

He returned to the pitch after an early recovery on 20 September 2015, coming on as a substitute in a 2–2 away draw against Roma.

He scored his first goal of the season from the penalty spot in a 2–1 home win over Lazio on 18 October 2015.

However, Juventus also retained the option to bring Berardi back to Turin in 2016.

Sassuolo finished the league season in sixth place, sealing a spot in the third qualifying round of the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League.

On 28 July 2016, Berardi made his debut in European competitions in the first leg of a third-round UEFA Europa League qualifying match against FC Luzern, scoring his and Sassuolo's first ever goal in the competition from the penalty spot in a 1–1 away draw.

In the return leg on 4 August, he scored twice in a 3–0 home win which allowed Sassuolo to advance to the play-off round.

In the first leg of the Europa League play-offs, on 18 August, Berardi scored a goal and set up another in a 3–0 home win over Red Star Belgrade.

On the opening match of the 2016–17 Serie A season three days later, he scored once again, from the penalty spot, to give Sassuolo a 1–0 away victory over Palermo.

On 25 August, he scored yet another goal (his sixth in five matches) in a 1–1 draw against Red Star Belgrade in the return leg of the Europa League play-offs to seal a spot for Sassuolo in the season's Europa League group stage.

After being sidelined for almost four and a half months, Berardi returned to action as a second-half substitute in a 0–0 home draw against Torino on 8 January 2017.

On 24 August 2017, Berardi signed a five-year contract with Sassuolo.

Berardi made his senior international debut with Italy in 2018, and was a member of the squad that won UEFA Euro 2020.

Born in Cariati, Calabria, Berardi joined the youth academy of Cosenza at the age of 13, before moving to Sassuolo at the age of 16.

On 19 August 2018, Berardi scored a goal from a penalty in a 1–0 home win over Inter Milan, in the first match of the 2018–19 Serie A season.

On 1 September 2019, Berardi netted a hat-trick in a 4–1 win over Sampdoria.