Reggio Emilia – There are matches where winning or losing is not about lifting a cup or not. It’s something much deeper, which doesn’t depend on what you dream about, but on how you try to achieve it. They are called playoffs. There’s one, one of a kind, that’s airing tonight at the Mapei Stadium in Reggio Emilia. In June 2022 they invent it in the Lega assembly, unanimously, and it passes: in case of an equal finish to save themselves, 90 ‘without overtime and immediately penalties. No advantage from direct clashes. A sort of peculiar, bloody thriller. To stay in Serie A, if they play tonight from 8.45 pm, Spice and Verona; up to now they have almost played “ciapa no”, to those who literally do less.
One o’clock, Hellas, starts badly and slips ten defeats in a row from sixth to fifteenth, changes bench and also loses the direct match at Bentegodi with the eagles. It ends at -8, then also at -9 from Spezia. And yet, two days from the end, he holds the match ball against Empoli already safe at home, and throws it away.
The other, the Spezia, starts well, then Nzola loses and Gotti goes into crisis. It is the hand of Eduardo Macia, head of the technical area, that conditions everything, and in the end the team loses, day after day, the lead and goals. Nzola hasn’t scored in nine rounds today, 578 minutes for him. Simple, out of 15 he wins 2 when he is an underdog – with Inter and Milan – but fails in all direct matches and loses on penalty in the last corner in Rome in the 90th minute.
Easier said for him than for his yellow and blue colleagues Zaffaroni and Bocchetti: «I’m not looking behind and I hope to solve it before the penalties – says the Tuscan – I’m missing Gyasi and Amian who are disqualified and I have many injuries, but we can do it. The league matches are another story, in this one the episodes will count for a lot. In the starting line-up we will also have to think about possible penalties, but first at 90′ from the battle».
Zaffaroni, on the other hand, has a more day-to-day philosophy: «A few months ago it was even just unthinkable to imagine a race like this – he said – It’s been 23 matches, since we’ve been here with Bocchetti, which for us is the last resort, this is definitely the last game. There will be a lot of tension, we will have to know how to manage it. The play-off is a game in itself, in the end it could go to penalties. It is different from the others, it must be interpreted in the right way ».
spice col Green-Shomurodov doubt (Neapolitan favourite), then Ferrer on Verdi’s trail. Dragoswski back in goal, very short bench. Even Ekdal in doubt. Verona which could start with Verdi-Djiuric-Ngonge with Lazovic good in the current match. There will be just under 5,000 Veronese fans and 4,300 La Spezia fans in the stands at Mapei. To direct the best referee in the world, Daniele Orsato. Who knows if it’s the last corvè for him; in fact, from Monday the Hague will ask UEFA for guidance on a possible further year of derogation. After the farewell of Irrati and Valeri, the last bulwark remains.
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