by Andrea Bosco
Pierini’s decisive goal, which gave Venezia the victory in the first leg of the Playoff Semifinal, greatly complicated Palermo’s path to the Final, and now Mignani’s team is called to a clear and convincing, to give himself a chance to overturn the now largely unfavorable result.
Rosanero public opinion is quite divided and the views are conflicting. Many have faith in Brunori and his teammates, and are convinced that they have the potential to accomplish a great feat, while others now consider the seasonal adventure to be over and are already looking forward to the next Serie B championship.
In a situation like this it may be useful, as an analytical tool or even just to ease the tension, to collect some statistics relating to previous situations which, in the Playoff Semifinals, saw the team disadvantaged in the standings in the double header losing the match. gone.
The first case dates back to the 2009/10 season, when also on that occasion the sixth (Cittadella) and third (Brescia) competed in the Semifinal. The Rondinelle also won 0-1 away in the first leg, then at Rigamonti the Venetians only partially managed to come back, replicating the result of the first leg, 0-1. Iachini’s Brescia reached the final due to the best placing, who then also overtook Torino in the final.
Taking a big leap forward, we arrive at the daring Playoffs of the 2014/15 Serie B. In the regular season, the surprises Carpi and Frosinone won the first two positions useful for Serie A, forcing more popular teams, such as Delio Rossi’s Bologna, to fight for promotion to the play-offs, from the quarters. In the semi-final the Bolognese team met eighth-placed Avellino, who lost at Partenio 0-1, forced to win with a double advantage at Dall’Ara. Incredible, but true, the Irpinia team defeated Bologna, playing an extraordinary match, almost in control, but without managing to obtain the result needed for qualification; Avellino won 2-3, with the decisive 2-4 shot hitting the crossbar at the end
After talking about two half-successful comebacks, we come to the two cases in which the unlikely became reality. In 2019, with the exclusion of Palermo from the Playoffs, Benevento took their place as third in the rosanero table, while Cittadella, thanks also to Barbera’s comeback on the final day, finished seventh. The Semi-final opened with the KO of the granata at Tombolato, defeated 1-2 by the Giallorossi Streghe, main favorites for the return to the top flight. But with an unthinkable twist, the Campania team was surprised by the vigorous Cittadella al Vigorito, suffering a very heavy 0-3 which handed the final to Venturato’s team, who were then also defeated in a comeback in the double match against Verona.
We close with the case of 2020, B playoffs played in the summer after the interruption of the championships due to Covid. The freshman Pordenone was the revelation of the tournament and took fourth place in the rankings. Frosinone, fresh from relegation the following year, finished eighth, with the same points as Pisa, ninth, with all the predictions inevitably unfavorable. Instead, the Ciociari showed off the test of their lives in those play-offs, coming from behind to overcome Cittadella in the Preliminary Round, with Ciano’s 2-3 at the end, but then in the Semi-final against the Ramarri they lost 0-1 to Stirpe. In the return match in Udine, Frosinone succeeded in overturning the result, beating their opponents 0-2. If Palermo wants to take the Final against one of Cremonese and Catanzaro, Frosinone is the team they will have to emulate.
