THE EAGLE. L’Aquila closes the regular season with a derby won at Gran Sasso thanks to a goal from Banegas from the cinema library. In front, a Notaresco lacking in stimuli but far from giving in. With Campobasso already celebrating and an eye on next Sunday’s play-offs against Roma City, Roberto Cappellacci confirms the now tried and tested 3-4-3 but redesigns the team opting for Pisciotta, Costa Ferreira and Alessandro from the first minute. Instead I noticed on the pitch with the most classic of the 4-4-2, with Scipioni and Carnevali as offensive terminals and Belloni acting behind them. The match started off strong straight away, with Di Santo shooting over Mantini’s cross in the 7th minute. Only three minutes pass and Banegas takes the stage: a serpentine in the strait to evade the intervention of three opponents formed by pins and for Pocho it is child’s play to deposit behind Calore for goal number 17 of this year, a personal record for the Argentine. In the 25th minute, however, Notaresco shakes things off, warming Michielin’s gloves twice in the space of a minute, first with Marrancone and then with Ferri. At the end of the first half Forcini and Tringali then try, with Michielin always attentive.
The second half opens with the guests ahead again. This time it’s Scipioni who tries with an assist from D’Aloia, again finding Michielin’s shape. Scipioni who shortly afterwards guesses the right trajectory that Michielin cannot reach, but his conclusion hits the post. In the final, however, L’Aquila returns to see each other again, coming close to doubling the score with the newly introduced Angiulli author of two poisonous shots, the first rejected by the goalkeeper, the second finishing just wide with Calore beaten. In recovery there would also be glory for Persiani, who recently took over from Alessandro, whose diagonal shot however goes wide of the post. Then the final whistle and the applause of the 3500 fans for a newly promoted team capable of closing the championship -2 from the top. Now playoffs in our sights.
The film of the season. However you look at it, everything about L’Aquila’s 2023/24 season is anything but banal. And it is precisely by rewinding the tape that we realize how much the rossoblù gave their fans a championship that was always worth the price of the ticket, if only for the swing of strong emotions that marked its pace. Starting with the Chieti derby in the second round of the championship, well played but lost due to a sensational hand goal, yet compensated by those then played against Avezzano, decided instead by an own goal and a goal by the former player, with L’Aquila who won them both as hadn’t happened for forty years. Or the six points obtained against league leaders Campobasso, three of which were comebacks on their own pitch, canceled out however by the only point gained this year from Real Monterotondo, mathematically safe for eight days. But also the two photocopied omelettes of the goalkeepers at the beginning of the year, as well as the best defense in the championship at the end, with Cappellacci who is never happy in the press conference, even if the team continues to win. The short face, the sterile attack, L’Aquila never capable of winning by more than two goals, only to then concede three to Termoli in the first leg, all in the 2nd half, after a first half that ended two down.
The changes. Then the internal revolution, almost a tsunami heralded by the sudden dismissal of Epifani in the ninth of the championship after a victory in Fano, followed shortly after by Galesio’s farewell. In between, Cappellacci’s return to the bench and a new playing identity. Hence the many arrivals in every department and at all levels, including the meteoric Sacchetti, sporting director for two weeks before replacing him with Perotti. The square, however, becomes more compact, with Banegas who instead goes on his own and solves the most complicated matches by setting Gran Sasso on fire, and then jostling with Cappellacci after a poorly digested substitution with Tivoli, and the Tortoretano coach who closes the affair at the end of the match with: «Banegas is my pupil». And again Crowdfunding, the stadium project, the fear of Ouali being involved in a car accident and the clashes between fans at the end of L’Aquila-Sora. Meanwhile, Campobasso runs away, then slows down, or rather slows down, with L’Aquila taking away six points out of the eight that divided the two teams with three to go and the enthusiasm that at that point no longer spares anyone. Until Del Pinto’s overhead kick two Sundays ago in Termoli which ended beyond the post, where the dreams of all the L’Aquila players were shattered, perhaps the most eloquent snapshot of the entire rossoblù season enclosed in a single technical gesture: from applause and at the same time hands in hair for the great missed opportunity.
Tommaso De Benedictis
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