As a premise, the starting eleven lined up by Aquilani left me stunned, keeping Arena and Barbieri out in a match that was supposed to be won in the name of an absurd turnover immediately struck me as indicative of a non-winning mentality. A match that we had to try to make our own to fuel our playoff hopes, especially against one Cremonese which did not appear never superior to the Neroazzurriwas instead faced in the first forty-five minutes with a “horizontality” that was at times irritating and with completely unproductive ball possession: quousque tandem Mister?
Ending the first half behind due to a questionable penalty, given that Calabresi and Buonaiuto arrive on the ball together, Aquilani understood his mistakes and replaced Mlakar and Calabresi with Arena and Barbieri and the equalizer immediately arrived, thanks to a prodigious recovery by Moreo who fed D’Alessandro for the goal. By the way, is there still anyone who has the courage to criticize Moreo?
The match was therefore heading towards a draw (which was in order), despite the late changes by our coach. But the referee management took care of it. Five minutes from the end a non-existent free kick was awarded, Canestrelli didn’t touch Quagliatacreated with masterful execution by Tailconfirming that football is not invented, if you want to win, get players capable of changing the fate of a match.
Volpi’s referee direction (not helped by linesmen and VAR) was so lethally decisive that at the end of the match the same Volpi has decided sensationally to resign asking for forgiveness for the errors committed (there is also a contact by Bianchetti on Barbieri which neither the referee nor the VAR deemed it appropriate to sanction with a penalty in our favour).
Exactly as happened a year ago at the Arena, when Bari took the three points thanks to an incorrect application of the rules by the referee, our club chooses and pursues the “foil” logic and does not make it a case of to complain about by raising your voice. The bitterness therefore remains entirely within the fourteen hundred of us who followed our colours, many of us disappointed by the coach’s choices and angry at the referee’s decisions.
At the end the Nerazzurri fans remained closed with lots of padlock at the gates behind the Curva, unable to leave for almost an hour. One of our fans felt ill and for a few moments we feared the worst, luckily the ambulance arrived quickly.
The other results of the day make our stay in the category official two days early. However, the hopes of reaching the playoffs have been significantly reduced, even if the mathematics still leaves some hope. In the meantime, let’s beat Sudtirol and then look at the rankings, another Pisa-Spal would not be acceptable.
And true congratulations to Parma, a winning, far-sighted and knowledgeable club that has worked brilliantly to return to Serie A. We must think bigespecially when there is the economic potential to do so.
Andrea Cosimi
Photo above: Us Cremonese (Fb)
