For the purposes of the rankings, tonight’s match between Olbia and Spal has very little to say, the last match of a troubled championship for the white and blues, certain of survival since last Sunday and of finding themselves back in the starting ranks of Serie C next August too. However, this will not be the case for the Sardinians, already mathematically relegated and working to plan the season of recovery among the professionals: anyone who expects a match played on competitive spirit will almost certainly be disappointed and the feeling is that tonight’s duel ( kick-off at 8pm) will see two teams essentially already on holiday competing.
One group away from the first leg match, the path of the two teams was totally different: then, in fact, Spal was led by Leonardo Colucci and was tied in the standings with the Sardinians (17 points to 16), while in the months following following Mimmo Di Carlo’s return to the bench gave a positive turn with the gap between the two teams widening to the current twenty points (46 to 26).
It is true that the Biancazzurri’s good return round was counterbalanced by the poor progress of Olbia, to say the least, capable of putting together just nine points in total, and being relegated to last place, also behind Fermana.
If in Sardinia for some time the climate has been one of resignation for a well-deserved relegation given what was (not) seen on the pitch, Spal on the one hand can breathe a strong sigh of relief for the salvation achieved early but at the same time it is not a It’s a mystery that in via Copparo we’re working our butts off for a missed playoff goal which instead seemed likely to be achieved, considering the positive trend of recent weeks.
The bond of closeness that had faded in recent months has been recreated between the team and the fans, and the feeling is that Spal would have needed very little more to reach the play-offs and give their fans an unexpected championship finale that was still to be played for .
Tonight’s match against Olbia will thus put an end to a complicated season, which the Biancazzurri have been able to put back on its feet in recent months but which will hardly be remembered positively by the entire Spanish environment. From tomorrow then, it will be time to think about the future, with the first choices that Joe Tacopina will have to make, in terms of sporting direction (we’ll talk about it on the next page) and technical driving.
Jacopo Cavallini
