Hellas Verona Club Focus: Last orders at the Bentegodi

Date: 9th April 2014 at 6:42pm
Written by:

With Luca Toni’s scrappy yet wonderfully instinctive strike in the Derby Della Scala on April 5 Hellas Verona were able to add a win over local rivals Chievo to the list of this season’s achievements. It was the 36-year-old’s 16th goal of the season and he is now outright Verona’s highest goalscorer in one Serie A season.

The derby may not be as important for the fans as those against more traditional rivalries such as the likes of Vicenza, but as the players said beforehand the ability to have bragging rights in Verona that are substantiated in the record books was what the Mastini’s season was missing.

Now the gap has been filled, even if it was ‘away’.  And Andrea Mandorlini and Michelangelo Albertazzi’s dedication of the victory to the fans who remained outside the stadium in protest at Chievo’s pricing of the game at €30 is the sort of sentiment that chimes well with supporters.

With Chievo in dangerous waters Hellas’s prestige and status as the city’s number one side will be confirmed by sending the side the Scaligeri fans call ‘nobody’ down to Serie B. Verona’s third team Virtus briefly moved into the Bentegodi but their fans refused to turn up there and Hellas’s claims to rule the city remain intact.

Now that the rot has been stopped, hopes are starting to return that the Gialloblu may be able to propel that city into a home to European football, with Verona currently four points behind sixth placed Parma. However, when defender Vangelis Moras was asked about Europe, he said that he never wanted to hear that word again and that the plan is just to carry on and make sure that they can finish the season as well as possible and perhaps that carefree attitude is the one needed to qualify for Europe.

They work hard not to try too hard and they may hit a run of form if they’re not too bothered about this calcio thing. They’ve got off to a good start by visiting the ViniItaly wine festival and maybe Moras and Michelangelo Albertazzi’s defensive abilities will be bolstered by necking bottles of the red Regolo Rosso Veronese that was on show before the match. After all, the label says the wine goes well with game.

However, the most important piece of news coming out of the club was the poem on the official website dedicated to Toni and #ToniMundial hashtag to get the striker on the plane to Brazil. While a Twitter hashtag presumably might not be enough to persuade Cesare Prandelli, Toni does keep asking the right questions.

The next visitors to the Bentegodi are the Gialloblu’s friends from Florence, Fiorentina. The two sets of fans have been twinned since Verona’s 1984-85 Scudetto-winning side was bolstered by a number of Viola loan players. Current Fiorentina loanee Romulo has been integral to Verona’s season and the news is that he is likely to sign permanently with the Gialloblu so he could be in the bizarre situation of placing himself in the shop window for Verona but also Fiorentina should he manage to impress so much that they begin to doubt the wisdom of letting him go.

The Mastini were quite impressive last time they faced the Viola in what was an exciting 4-3 win for the Tuscans. It will be tough this time round as Fiorentina are obviously a good side and they remain in with a faint chance of qualifying for the Champions League. However, the visitors are the kind of side that like to play attractive, morally pure possession football and the Scaligeri have proved adept at dealing with that by letting the opponents tire themselves out before launching counterattacks or sticking set pieces on to Toni’s towering head.

Hellas are back to winning ways after a horrible run of five successive defeats and they have worked out how to adapt to Jorginho’s departure and although this game shouldn’t be a tense nervy affair, there is no reason why the Andrea Mandorlini’s boys can’t get some sort of result.  Morale is good and the remaining six fixtures are not especially difficult so the season could finish on a high with the team stumbling into the Europa league thanks to their new-found laidback approach.

Sporting director Sean Sogliano is also reportedly very active at the moment. Juan Manuel Iturbe continues to be linked everywhere but most consistently with Roma and the club will be looking to make his loan from FC Porto permanent so that they can move him on for a tidy profit.  Should he go to the Giallorossi it has been suggested that Verona will be able to sign one of Marquinho or Nico Lopez on a permanent deal.

A deal is also supposedly all but done for Rijeka midfielder Moises. The Brazillian started his career with America-MG but was perhaps most prolific at Portuguesa before moving on to his current employers in Croatia. He would certainly fit Sogliano’s strategy of going for more unknown talents and should he end up in Verona, he could only impress as there is no great expectation on him.

The club are also aiming to continue with their youth policy as they are reportedly in conflict with Catania and Pescara to sign Bosnian under-19 and Zrinjski Mostar goalkeeper Goran Karacic. So the hope is that the club is building a solid foundation for next season.

Will Verona consume their wine responsibly and end the season in a very respectable if unremarkable manner? Will they be able to turn that wine into champagne by pushing on and into Europe? Or will they party too hard knowing the real job of surviving is done and end up being sick in the taxi and get kicked out into the comfortable wilderness of mid-table? Respectability seems most likely at the moment but we will see where the night takes them…

 

Comments are closed.