38 days of the championship were not enough to establish who, between Spice and Verona, must keep company with Sampdoria and Cremonese relegated to B for the 2023 season. ’24: the two teams have closed the regular season tied on points and, by virtue of the new rule, they compete on a neutral field (in Reggio Emilia) in dry race with salvation up for grabs. Spezia without captain Gyasi and Bastoni from La Spezia, count on the striker Nzola, 13 goals in the league but without 7 games, Verona opposes its battery of attacking midfielders with Ngonge, Verdi and Lazovic ready to arm the strikers Djuric and Gaich in the ninety minute course. In the event of a tie, go ahead with penalties, exactly as if it were a knockout match but without extra time.
THE STATISTICS
This will be there 13th season in which the permanence in Serie A between at least two teams will be decided through a safety play-off; the last match of this type in the top division was played at the end of the 2004/05 tournament, in a two-legged match between Parma and Bologna (in that case the rossoblù were relegated to Serie B, a 1-0 victory in the first leg and lost 0-2 in the second leg). The single match hasn’t been seen since 1996-97, Piacenza-Cagliari 3-1.
Il Verona their stay in Serie A will be played out through a play-off to avoid relegation with another top division team for the second time in their history: the first at the end of the 2000/01 championship, when the Gialloblù guaranteed safety in the match against Reggina, thanks to the 1-0 victory in the first leg, with a goal by Laursen, and the goal scored in the 86th minute by Cossato, in the 1-2 defeat in the second leg (2-2 on aggregate), with Attilio Perotti in bench.
Lo Spice ended the 2022/23 Serie A season conceding 62 goals in the ‘regular season’: this is the fewest goals conceded by the Ligurian team in the three top leagues played so far (71 in 2021/22 and 72 in 2020/21).
Among the teams faced at least five times in Serie A, Spezia is only one of the three (together with Juventus and Inter) against which Simone Verdi he found his way to goal without, however, ever winning – three draws and two defeats in five matches – moreover, one of his four braces in the competition came against the Ligurians, in February 2022, with the Salernitana shirt.