Serie A will have another fresh face next year as Frosinone secured promotion to the top flight for the first time in their 87-year history on the strength of Saturday’s 3-1 victory over Crotone at the Stadio Matusa.
Coach Roberto Stellone’s side will join Carpi as debutants to Serie A and give the Lazio region three clubs in the top flight for the first time joining Roma and Lazio.
A sold out Matusa crowd was bouncing all match in anticipation and exploded when Daniele Ciofani tapped in the first goal just past the quarter hour. The 29-year old has been a prolific scorer for the Canarini since his arrival and, alongside strike partner Federico Dionisi, the duo have have paced the second most lethal attack in Serie B combining for 26 goals.
A lethal left-footer from Ciofani before the break started the celebrations in earnest as fireworks filled the Matusa and the celebrations spilled onto the pitch with fans rushing to congratulate their heroes at the end of the match.
The playoff picture is now almost settled with seven squads jockeying for the six slots heading into the final week as Bari were mathematically eliminated despite beating Brescia 3-2 at the Stadio San Nicola.
Bologna fell short of securing sole possession of third place as they couldn’t carry Marchel Buchel’s first half strike to victory despite playing a man up for the entire second half and drew 1-1 to a battling Pro Vercelli side.
Spezia overcame Virtus Lanciano 2-0, grabbing goals just before the break and within moments after the second half whistle, lifting the Aquilotti to an undefeated record through their last six matches.
Livorno let a golden opportunity slip to secure a playoff spot when the Amaranto conceded a controversial stoppage-time penalty to Andrea Cocco and bitterly settled for a 1-1 draw against Vicenza. All is not lost for the Amaranto as Livorno coach Christian Panucci’s men travel to Pescara next Friday knowing only a draw is required to grab a playoff position.
Already relegated Varese played spoiler when Luca Forte’s stoppage time winner defeated a motivated Pescara side 2-1.
Cittadella were granted a stay of execution and lived to fight another day as they temporarily avoided relegation to Lega Pro when Francesco Stanco netted the late winner giving Citta a 3-2 victory over Catania.
Ternana looked to have avoided the lottery of a playout by traveling to Modena and defeating the Gialloblu by a 2-1 scoreline.
Is carpi the team from the Lazio region or is it Frosinone because some research shows that the city of Carpi is near Modena closer to northern Italy not the Lazio region where as Frosinone seems to be in the Lazio region if i’m wrong feel free to correct me 🙂
Frosinone is the Lazio team. Should be an interesting year next year in Serie A.
Ahh i had read this a bit wrong, when i first read it i thought you were referring to Capri being from Lazio region. Its nice to see an author active and replying to comments! Well written article friend 🙂
Thanks for the kind words, Kyle. Very much appreciated. I really hope Carpi and Frosinone make an impact next year. I think the future of Italian football will be determined in large part by what clubs like Sassuolo are doing. Good stuff.