In an arm wrestling match, or rather of steel, between Sampdoria and Feralpisalò, there would have been no match. The history of the Garda club which landed in Serie B for the first time this season is in fact nourished by steel. His patron Giuseppe Pasini he is the president of Feralpi Group, a steel giant from the Brescia area founded in 1968 with a billion-dollar turnover, among the leading companies in the sector. Which is also part of… Andrea Pirlo. With different dimensions. And yes, because his family also invested in the steel industry in the early 1980s. His father Luigi founded the Eurofercomthen became Elg Steel. With subsequent involvement in share capital, also by the Blucerchiati coach, as well Efc Acciai (production and trade of tubes and drawn products) e Elg Chromium Plating (specialized in the processing of chromed bars and tubes).
The heart of these activities of the Pirlo family is Castel Mella, near Brescia, about thirty kilometers from Lonato del Garda, where Feralpi siderurgica has its headquarters. And in recent years steel has forcefully entered Italian football through three passionate entrepreneurs, Pasini with Feralpisalò, Antonio Gozzi with Entella and Giovanni Arvedi with Cremonese. The first two brought their clubs to the highest, and most unpredictable, peak of their lives. Pasini then created the Steel Cup, a summer tournament which saw the three clubs compete.
That of Saturday 23 December (at 4.15pm) it will be the first championship match between Feralpisalò and Sampdoria, who have already faced each other in summer friendlies in Ponte di Legno. But president Pasini, who pays for a bus for his fans to travel to Marassi, has already entered the life of Genoa. In fact, the Nuova Defim Orsogril company, controlled by the Feralpi Group, took part in the construction of the grating that makes up the pedestrian walkway along the San Giorgio Bridge in 2020. A project that developed in full lockdown and that emotionally involved the entire company.
Saturday afternoon's match at Ferraris will also be played on steel. On the nerves first and foremost. Pirlo is preparing his team for the many pitfalls that a match that on paper sees Sampdoria as the overwhelming favorites can present. They will therefore be fundamental the approach and attitude. To be looked after from start to finish. And the same goes for the team coached by Zaffaroni, who in the last round prevailed (it was the second victory in the first 17 days) as “not favourites” over Cremonese, a team built by owner Arvedi, and it always comes back to the steel industry , to aim for direct promotion to Serie A. There is a statistical fact that stands out also regarding the aspect of nerves: Feralpisalò is the Serie B team that has scored the least in the last quarter of an hour , just one goal, while Sampdoria are the ones who have conceded the most in the same period of time, eight.
And it will be a tough challenge from a physical point of view too. The symbolic men of the Sampdoria team, in this respect, are Manuel De Luca, Pajtim Kasami and Daniele Ghilardi, whose weight according to the almanacs flirts with 80 kilos, the attacker a couple more. Stankovic is also on 80, but he will make them feel inside his area. In the Garda club the strong player is the defender Loris Bacchetti, 85 kg, followed by Luca Ceppitelli, who should be in the starting lineup tomorrow, with 83 and who will therefore give rise to an impactful duel with De Luca. But overall the average weight of the greenblues is slightly higher than that of the blucerchiati. In the middle of the pitch Kasami will face the Genoese and Sampdorian Davide Balestrero and the Greek Kourfalidis, match winner with Cremonese, both in their 80s.
Nerves of steel also for discipline. The Dorians who have been warned by a ban are Ghilardi, Gonzalez, Murru, Stojanovic, Yepes. A mystery and no Bari on Santo Stefano.
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