Hellas Verona Club Focus: Aliens and away form

On Sunday, March 23, Hellas Verona made a return to winning ways by beating Livorno 3-2 on the road. The result keeps them in with a chance of Europa League qualification even if the players and staff refuse to talk about Europe at the moment.

The game had been something of a party with many of the Gialloblu fans turning up in fancy dress and the Scaligeri going 3-0 up only for it to be brought back to 3-2 to create a nervy last 20 minutes. Club president Maurizio Setti endeared himself to the travelling support by taking his place in the stands and he didn’t leave empty handed.

Someone handed him an alien mask which is obviously what football is really about. The likes of Massimo Moratti and Andrea Agnelli may have trophies but do they have an alien mask?

In grabbing Verona’s third goal, Luca Toni scored for the fourth consecutive game. That sees the 36-year-old centre forward equal his longest goalscoring streak since his seasons with Bayern Munich in 2007-08 and Fiorentina in 2006-07.

It was also the 2006 World Cup winner’s 122nd goal in Serie A which brings him level with Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Worryingly for Verona, he will be unavailable for the next fixture against Bologna after being booked against Livorno for simulation in the box with the sporting judge handing out a one game ban.

Sticking with records, Romulo’s goal takes his tally up to five for the season which is a career high for the Brazilian. He also enjoys the honour of being tied with Alessio Cerci at the top of the assist chart.

Verona’s victory over Livorno saw them pick up their second consecutive away win which is interesting considering the Mastini’s struggles on the road in the first half of the season. In contrast, their last three home games have ended in defeat as the early trend of impressive performances at home and struggles away has been reversed.

Whilst you would expect Andrea Mandorlini to have worked on the training ground to address their earlier poor away form, the change in fortunes both away and at home appears to be mostly arbitrary and the result of how the fixtures have lined up.

In their last four away games the Scaligeri have faced  Udinese, Sassuolo, Livorno and AC Milan winning the first three and being rather unfortunate to lose to the Rossoneri. In comparison, the Bentegodi has seen Roma, Torino, Napoli all come and take three points while the Gialloblu won a hard earned point against Juventus.

Verona’s home form is now only the fourth best in the league, down from second but the away form has moved up to a respectable eighth. Whilst the small decline in home form is somewhat disappointing for the Bentegodi faithful, the  better balance between home and away form is encouraging for Verona’s overall consistency.

Somewhat bizarrely, the club decided to cover the Gazzetta Dello Sport’s transfer rumours on their official Facebook page which goes against the norm of bland corporate information and PR that usually comes out of football clubs and reveals very little. For example, 20-year-old  Giorgi Chanturia of Cluj and 19-year-old Nemanja Maksimovic of NK Domazale have both been tipped to join the Scaligeri in the summer and there is presumably something in the story if the club are reporting on the news.

Georgian Chanturia gave an interview to TuttoMercatoWeb.com in which he spoke of his admiration for Verona and Italian football but said that he is currently focusing on playing for Cluj who he only just signed for from Vitesse and that he is uncomfortable with the tag of the ‘Georgian Messi’.

All things considered, it seems the move for the pair seems likely despite the convoluted nature of the whole affair. Such moves may also point to a possible youth strategy in Verona as they prepare for what could be a transitory season next year as they adapt to a second season in Serie A.