The seventh gesture of seasonal generosity by Domenico Berardi — six of which already etched in the memory of Sassuolo fans — this time did not arrive on the green pitch, but on the sunny seafront of Forte dei Marmi, where the Neroverdi champion spends part of his summer.

Yesterday morning, around eleven o'clock, at the height of via Mazzini, an amateur cyclist in his sixties crashed badly on the cycling path asphalt after losing control of his bicycle on a patch of sand swept by the sea breeze. Despite the man lying on the ground with a swollen face and a visibly swollen ankle, a long procession of beachgoers and passersby continued to flow indifferently, too caught up in their hurry or the warmth of the morning sun to stop and help.

It was the Sassuolo captain himself who broke through that wall of indifference. Returning from a morning bike ride along the coast, he noticed the situation and braked sharply, immediately dismounting from his bicycle. Berardi's intervention, supported by Elisa Coppedé, owner of a nearby bar, finally stirred those present: some young people from the nearby beach establishment rushed over with an umbrella to shield the injured man from the sun, before the Green Cross transported him urgently to the emergency room in Pietrasanta.

A gesture worth more than any assist, that of Berardi, who proved himself a champion even away from the pitch.