Cittadella drew Modena 1-1 on at the Stadio Alberto Braglia in Serie B on Monday night.
Alessandro Sgrigna’s first half free kick just outside the penalty area saw Citta take the lead before the Canarini’s Maxwell Acosty leveled the match for a share of the spoils in the Emilia-Romagnan evening.
The match featured a pair of squads who nearly didn’t play in Italy’s second-tier this season for vastly different reasons: Moderna lost out in the promotion playoffs to eventual winner Cesena and Cittadella barely missed having to fight for their Serie B lives in a play-out only to be saved by a slight goal differential advantage.
The home side began on the front foot but it was Sgrigna’s diagonal shot across Carlo Pinsoglio’s goal which marked the first assault on either goal and the visitors seemed buoyed by this attack and were to have the lion’s share of quality scoring opportunities on the night.
Modena’s Stefano Beltrame hacked down Matteo Minesso near the half hour mark and while it appeared the referee may signal a penalty, a free kick was awarded just outside the Modena penalty area and Sgrigna made sure the Gialloblu paid the ultimate price for the needless foul by lofting his free kick over the wall and into the top corner giving Citta a deserved lead.
Modena coach Walter Novellino switched from a 4-4-2 to a 4-2-4 in an attempt to put the visitors on their heels and while they enjoyed greater possession, they created scant few chances and nothing of consequence to trouble Alex Valenti’s goal.
Citta nearly doubled their advantage with 15 minutes left when Minesso made a beautiful long run into the area but instead of serving a wide-open Federico Gerardi, the 24-year old tried his own luck at goal but his shot was easily saved.
Moments later Modena would finally make good on their possesion when on-loan Fiorentina striker Acosty was put through one-on-one with the keeper and slotted home the goal.
