The last 180 minutes of the Serie D championship will decide all the verdicts, both in the leading and trailing positions. The 33rd matchday – with all the matches scheduled for tomorrow at 3pm – could be the day of promotion to Serie C for Carpi: the return to professionalism after the failure of 2021. The red and whites need a victory, they need a victory at home to Imola to secure first place.
Borgo San Donnino, however, returns to the “Ballotta” in Fidenza in search of playout points: against Ravenna, second, they need to take home at least one point, given the direct clash between Progresso and Sammaurese. The friendly crowd was an added value for the Biancoblù in this final rush: in the last three home games there were two victories (Sangiuliano City and Pistoiese) in addition to the 1-1 draw against Sant’Angelo on 14 April. The boys led by Gianluca Baratta will want to make up for last week’s bitter “X” on the Corticella pitch, when an important salvation train was lost. The Borghigiani played a splendid match against “Biavati” of Bologna and only saw themselves caught in the 96th minute by Bertani: there was no shortage of controversy and the anger acquired that afternoon must be transformed into competitive energy tomorrow. Mister Baratta, as has happened too often this season, will have to deal with absences: midfielder Bertipagani – disqualified for protests at the end of the match against Corticella – and defender Tarantino, who received his tenth yellow card, will not be in the match.
The hopes of direct promotion are now hanging in the balance, but Ravenna will play their cards until the end. The Giallorossi are forced to win to stay in Carpi’s wake, and at the same time they must hope for a positive result from Imolese. The team led by Massimo Gadda, also former coach of Forlì, is back from 5 consecutive victories: an impressive record considering the 15 goals scored and 0 conceded. The defensive phase is precisely the real strength of the Romagna team: with only 13 goals conceded – considering that Carpi, second in this ranking, conceded 29, 16 more – they make them the best defense, in terms of distance, in the group Q. In addition to a solid rearguard, the Adriatic Lions can count on two of the best strikers in the championship: Mattia Tirelli (13 goals) and Antonio Sabbatini (11), both of whom scored in the first leg match.
The Ravenna team undoubtedly start as the underdogs, even considering the result of the first leg. At the “Bruno Benelli”, Ravenna won 4-0 on the 16th matchday thanks to Tirelli’s brace and goals from Sabbatini and Diallo: a one-sided match. Borgo San Donnino wants to take their revenge, but they will need the perfect match – and perhaps a classy shot from the usual Ferretti – to bring home the best possible result: every point could be decisive in terms of survival.
