Torino host Pescara in Round 24 of Serie A. In 2012, the two went head-to-head in a thrilling title race in Serie B, which saw some current stars show signs of what was to come
Look to Serie B, they say, and see the stars of tomorrow; the teams who are coming to fruition and the young players who will make a splash in years to come.
Look to Serie B, and you will see Frosinone and Carpi both pushing Hellas Verona for promotion to a higher tier all three sides were all categorically not good enough for last season – history waiting to repeat itself, you might think.
Yet it was not always this way. Sassuolo may be the big noise of the sides who came up from Serie B recently, but in terms of seasons producing the most to look forward to, their 2012-13 triumph was nothing compared to the year before.
Sampdoria went up through the playoffs that year, one of three teams who registered 6-0 victories. The other two of those, Pescara and Torino, took the top two spots – they meet again this weekend, barely recognisable from the two sides who so memorably did battle just five years ago.
Perhaps, looking at the sidelines, it was inevitable. Torino’s bench was helmed by Giampiero Ventura, while Zdenek Zeman was the coach for the Delfini. It is fair to say that both tacticians saw their teams become a reflection of themselves by the end of a thrilling season.
In Abruzzo, they started as they were to go on; in some ways at least. Their first games of the season ended 2-1, 3-2, 2-3, 2-0, 2-4, 2-3 and 5-3. Goals were, as so often with Zeman sides, commonplace.
It did not produce positive results immediately, but the exciting young Delfini side were clearly going places. Little wonder, given the quality of their forward line.
Marco Sansovini was hardly a household name, before or since 2012, but he netted 16 goals that season. Around him, Lorenzo Insigne and Ciro Immobile terrorised Serie B defences. Their midfield counted Marco Verratti amongst their number, a creative base as solid as any in the division.
All three future Azzurri men were under 22 at the time, and all owe a debt of gratitude to Zeman’s obsession with bringing young players to prominence.
Torino were the opposite under Ventura, beginning the season in efficient style, unbeaten until a surprising 1-0 loss at Gubbio in the 11th game. They took Serie B by the scruff of the neck, and led the table for huge swathes of the campaign.
In truth, it was a Granata side packed with players destined for better things. Spearheaded by the mercurial Rolando Bianchi, he could count the likes of Angelo Ogbonna, Danilo D’Ambrosio and Matteo Darmian amongst his foot-soldiers, and Kamil Glik made his first steps as a Torino player, too.
With the two sides impressing, the meeting at the Stadio Olimpico in December took on the look of an important fixture. It played out in a way that Pescara were becoming familiar with – goals all over the place, eventually Torino won 4-2, with Immobile scoring twice for the visitors.
It was an unusually open display from Ventura’s men. They conceded twice just four times all season, so to do so at that stage, even though they ended up winning, was unusual.
Despite their crazy results, Pescara’s form improved throughout the season and by the time the second meeting came around, there was a very real chance that they might usurp Torino at the top of the Serie B table.
There was a camaraderie between the sides with identical aims, something borne out by the placing of wreaths under the stand before the match to commemorate a recently murdered supporter.
The stands at the Stadio Adriatico were packed to see whether their side might get the better of their more illustrious guests, and only had to wait 11 minutes to see them get their first reward.
It was a dream of a goal, worthy of a far bigger stage; Verratti looked up around the half way line and saw Insigne running through on goal. He floated a ball behind the defence but ahead of goalkeeper Francesco Benussi who came rushing from his goal. Insigne controlled the ball on a sixpence, stepped past Benussi and rolled the ball into an empty net. Advantage Delfini.
Shots rained down at both ends throughout another gripping encounter, with Immobile the only other player able to take advantage, nodding home a second just before the break to take the game beyond Torino.
Pescara did not take the lead in Serie B that day, they had to wait until the last day of the season two weeks later, but they had proven their point. They could, and had, matched Torino.
When the two sides meet this weekend, they are tied together by that bond, by that campaign they shared five years ago when two philosophies clashed and both came out on top. They meet, too, in the knowledge that if their meeting lives up to the standard of either of the 2011-12 games, the supporters will be richly entertained.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM_BEDWJfzc[/youtube]
