Pescara broke Livorno hearts and slid into the final Serie B playoff position by crushing the Amaranto 3-0 at the Stadio Adriatico in the season’s final week on Friday.
A pair of former Italian national defenders squared off with coach Christian Panucci knowing his Livorno side only needed a draw to secure the last playoff spot. However former Lazio man, Pescara coach Massimo Oddo pulled off an upset in his debut match in charge of the Delfini to claim the final Serie A lottery ticket.
Oddo instituted a raft of changes including a formation change to a 4-2-3-1 while also promoting 19-year old Lucas Torreira from the Primavera and giving the young Uruguayan a place in the midfield pivot slot.
The deserved breakthrough came at the half-hour mark after four near misses and with the Biancazzurri dominating play Cristian Pasquato served Federico Melchiorri at the edge of the area and the well-traveled veteran buried his shot beyond the reach of a diving Matteo Cipriani for his 11th of the campaign.
Panucci made a double substitution at the beginning of the half but was unable to stem the tide as Livorno could never get a foothold in the match and captain Birkir Bjarnason scored a second-half brace including a great sliding finish to seal the victory.
After seven consecutive seasons avoiding the drop, Cittadella will play in Lega Pro next season as Perugia sealed Citta’s fate with a 2-0 victory before a disappointed crowd at the Stadio Pier Cesare Tombolato. The home side thought they’d scored the opener but the goal was ruled offside and Citta was unable to recover and they were done in by Fabinho’s free kick beauty and 19-year Vittorio Parigini fourth goal.
Meanwhile, Crotone extended their improbable Serie B lives for a seventh season narrowly escaping a play-out on the basis of their scoreless home draw to Virtus Entella. The Diavoli Neri were unfortunate to not pick up the victory after a few close calls and will face Modena, who drew 1-1 with Latina, in a two-legged play-out tie.
In other matches, Spezia downed an unmotivated Bari side 1-0 as the Galliani were eliminated from a playoff position last week and were simply playing out the string. Next year’s Serie A debutants both played listless matches as Carpi played a scoreless draw against Catania in front of a still ecstatic Stadio Sandro Cabassi crowd while Frosinone lost 2-1 to Vicenza.
The sprint for a crazy playoff calendar is now set. On May 26 Perugia will host Pescara with the winner facing Vicenza over a two-legged tie while Spezia entertain Avellino with the survivor earning the right to battle Bologna. The finals will also be played out over two legs to determine the third and final squad participating in Italian’s top flight next season.
