The Biancoscudati have achieved their seasonal objective and no longer have much to ask of the championship; for the locals, however, there is still hope of salvation
MESSINA – Last match of the championship which will be played for everyone on Saturday at 6.30pm. Messina will visit Monopoli at the “Vito Simone Veneziani” stadium to officially end a season that no longer has much to say given that salvation was achieved last Sunday against Potenza. However, the biancoscudata team will certainly be keen to close this year well which will almost certainly see many of the protagonists, as happens every year now, say goodbye to Messina at the end of the 90 minutes of the 38th matchday.
Roberto Taurino’s Monopoli fights to save itself, winning and keeping their fingers crossed for some results that will have to come from other fields, they could still avoid the playouts. The team changed technical leadership twice during the season, with Francesco Tomei starting and remaining in the saddle until the end of the first round, 18 games. The coach had also brought the team to safety before suffering a crisis which then cost him his bench. In the 19th round, the first leg against Messina, Luigi Anaclerio took over for a match, then from the 20th round and for the entire return round Roberto Taurino sat on the black-green bench.
The Apulian team has suffered two setbacks in the last two days, at home to Crotone, a result which among other things reassured Messina who was playing against Potenza, and before that at home against Taranto. In the last ten matches, however, they are a team that has tried to change gear in pursuit of salvation, before these two defeats they had achieved four wins and four draws. As for the numbers at home they are stuck at 19 points out of 39 total, so they did better on the road. It is second to last in terms of home performance ahead of only Brindisi. The last victory within friendly walls was 1-0 against Sorrento on March 30th. The top scorer is Borello with 6 goals, replacing Starita who left Monopoli mid-season to join Benevento.
At Messina, with the exception of Ortisi and other last minute injuries, everyone should be available, in fact there won’t even be any disqualified players. We’ll see if Mr. Modica will make a reward team for what he expressed during the season or if, having obtained salvation, he will give space to those who had less or even if, even if not mandatory, the focus will be on playing time. The match will be refereed by Marco Emmanuele from Pisa who managed Messina last season when they played in Avellino losing 2-1
Precedents against Monopoly
In the first leg, Messina was coming off a recovery phase with three consecutive useful results and wanted to end the year on a high note in front of their fans. After Franco’s goal, Starita’s goal came in injury time in the first half due to Messina’s umpteenth defensive inattention in that period. In the second half the two teams did not get hurt even if Ortisi hit a sensational post around the hour mark. .
Last year Messina suffered two defeats in the two matches against the green and whites, in the first leg at the “Veneziani” 2-0, after De Risio’s goal from a corner, Faella’s goal came in full injury time with Lewandowski giving the ball away on a clearance. On the return leg, the goal was enough again from a standing situation by Bizzotto with the Monopoli pirate at Franco Scoglio.
Two years ago Messina lost again in Monopoli 2-1 and was overturned, but in the return they won 2-1, perhaps one of the best matches of the year taking the lead 2-0 until the mix-up of the own goal between Carillo and Lewandowski protagonists on a pitch in certainly not optimal conditions. However, going back to 2015, from the data provided by Lega Pro, there are no victories for Messina away to Monopoli in this period of time.
