Inter suffered only their second defeat in Serie A this season as a first-half goal by Armand Lauriente gave relegation-threatened Sassuolo a crucial 1-0 victory.

Sassuolo have a unique hold over Simone Inzaghi's side this season, as the only team to beat Inter in the league, having secured a 2-1 victory in the reverse fixture in September.

The result was a big boost in Sassuolo's battle against relegation, as they sit second from bottom on 29 points, with only three points between them and Cagliari in 14th place.

Lauriente got the only goal of the match after 20 minutes when Josh Doig managed to wrestle the ball back from Denzel Dumfries near the corner flag and pulled it back, with Sassuolo's matchwinner on hand to slot into the net from close range.

Data Debrief: Long time coming

This was the first time Inter have lost a league match against a team in the bottom two of the standings since way back in November 2014. On that occasion, they went down 2-0 to Parma.

Lauriente, meanwhile, has scored four Serie A goals since the beginning of April, a joint-record in the period in the top-flight (level with Hakan Calhanoglu).

Former Rangers full-back Alan Hutton believes Josh Doig would be an ideal solution to the Ibrox club’s impending decisions at left-back.

Borna Barisic is out of contract in the summer and has been linked with a return to Croatia with Dinamo Zagreb.

Ridvan Yilmaz has struggled for game time since arriving in the summer of 2022 but has impressed in recent weeks amid the absence of the injured Barisic.

However, the Turkey international has been linked with a switch to Hellas Verona, where Doig has plied his trade since moving from Hibernian to Italy.

Doig is also the subject of reported interest from Torino and Udinese and Hutton believes the 21-year-old would be a good fit at Ibrox.

“I thought that he was a player that both teams in Glasgow would have looked at before he left,” the former Scotland international said.

“He had all the attributes to be a modern-day full-back – physically strong, can get up and down the pitch, an attacking full-back and that’s how Rangers like to play.

“He would come back a better player having played in Italy and you’d think defensively, he would be learning week in, week out. I think he would do a really good job.

“It looks like Barisic will be out of contract at the end of the season. Yilmaz was looking like the guy who was going to take over from him but he has been a little bit in and out. But he has had some really good performances the last few games.

“It was interesting to watch him against Kilmarnock. He played a little more inside the pitch. He has come on to a game and if he was to go, they have to bring someone in.”

Hutton believes up front is the key transfer priority for Philippe Clement with Cyriel Dessers struggling to win over the Rangers fans and Danilo and Kemar Roofe missing much of the campaign so far through injury.

Sam Lammers is another attacking summer signing who has struggled to make an impact and he has been linked with a move to Utrecht.

Hutton, who was promoting the upcoming Scottish Gas Scottish Cup fourth-round fixtures, which see Rangers travel to Dumbarton, has been encouraged by manager Clement’s impact, having only lost to Celtic since replacing Michael Beale.

“You can’t not be impressed,” he said. “Winning the League Cup and getting into the last 16 of the Europa League by winning that group was massive for them.

“But just in general, their play has changed under the new manager. The only blip was against Celtic.

“Rangers are closing the gap in my opinion. It’s not as big as it was in previous seasons. It’s close now, it’s small margins between them – as we saw in the Old Firm game.

“The small margins are in the forward line, that’s the difference between the two teams. You see the likes of Kyogo (Furuhashi). He is a big-time player, he gets those opportunities and puts them in the back of the bet more often than not.

“If Rangers can get someone in who can do that, as well as what they have, I think they will be in a good place.”

:: Hutton was speaking at a press event organised by Scottish Gas, proud partners of the men’s and women’s Scottish Cups.

Josh Doig, Anthony Ralston and Robby McCrorie have been included in the Scotland squad for the upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers away to Georgia and at home to Norway as a batch of key players struggle for fitness.

Goalkeeper Angus Gunn, captain Andrew Robertson, plus fellow defenders Kieran Tierney and Aaron Hickey – all of whom have been regular starters when fit – miss out through injury.

Verona left-back Doig earned a maiden call-up from Steve Clarke a year past September but is yet to win his first cap.

However, he will have the opportunity to stake a claim for a place at left-wing-back in the absence of Robertson and Tierney.

Celtic right-back Ralston – with six caps to his name – will vie with Nathan Patterson for the right-wing-back slot in place of Hickey. 

Uncapped Rangers goalkeeper McCrorie has been added after Gunn failed to recover from the injury he sustained while playing for Norwich against Leeds last month.

Motherwell’s Liam Kelly and Hearts’ Zander Clark – both of whom made their international bows in the friendly defeat by France last month – will hope to be given the chance to make their competitive debuts in place of Gunn over the next two games.

Along with Gunn, Robertson, Tierney and Hickey, Millwall forward Kevin Nisbet and Rangers defender John Souttar, who have also had fitness issues recently, are the other notable absentees from the squad.

The Scots are already assured of qualification for the finals in Germany next summer but could still finish top of Group A if they achieve better results in their closing two matches than Spain manage in their concluding fixtures against Cyprus and Georgia.

Spain are currently ahead of Clarke’s men by virtue of head-to-head and goal difference.