Today, 06/08/2024, 12 years have passed since that day, 06/08/2012, from that Empoli-Vicenza play-off play-off in Serie B to avoid relegation to Serie C. A magical evening, incredible for how developed the match and which positively marked the history of the Azzurri in the following years. We propose again the article written by our colleague Nico Raffi in April 2020 on the occasion of “A century of blue”.
One day, perhaps, we will find the words to talk about it clearly, with serene detachment, without being overwhelmed by the range of emotions that, eight years later, it is still capable of arousing. For many the playoffs of theJune 8, 2012 Between Empoli And Vicenza it’s not just a football match. AND’ THERE match, with the feminine definite article to be written strictly in capital letters. It’s the evening when al Carlo Castellani everything and the opposite of everything happened. A concentrate of multiple moods which, passing in rapid succession from the darkest desperation to the most unbridled joy, still today, overlap messily in our memory.
Sensations too intense to be returned through the cold medium of words. At most they can be outlined using rapid, indistinct and swirling brushstrokes, a bit like those imprinted on canvas. Van Gogh. On that June evening eight years ago we were the incredulous witnesses of an event which, on the one hand, meant the achievement of a very important sporting result, capable of avoiding relegation to the Lega Pro and averting the threat of a probable financial collapse. , on the other hand it made the strings of belonging to the world vibrate like never before blue people.
It all happened in one night or, better said, in 35 minutes scarce. In the time space that goes from the Vicenza advantage of Paolucci to the final apotheosis marked by the goal of Maccaronethe most moments are condensed absurd, crazy, incredible ever. An interval of time, which escapes any technical analysis, any rational understanding. In the second half Empoli-Vicenza ceases to be a simple football match and becomes something epic. After the 0-0 draw in the first leg, captain Stovini and his companions have two out of three results available to save their skin and send them to the hell of the Pro League the Vicenza of the great ex Gigi Cagni. The imperative for the Azzurri is to maintain the category and redeem a disastrous season which saw three changes on the bench: Aglietti, Pillon, Carboni and again Aglietti.
The first half ends at 0-0 and passes on the edge of a subtle, vague uncertainty. There quiet before the storm. There is a strange feeling throughout the stadium restlessness, as if waiting for an episode that breaks the balance, which alters the natural course of events. The episode promptly occurs in the 60th minute and smiles at the Venetian red and whites. Paolucci he collects a cross from the left and, with his head, anticipates the blue goalkeeper Dossena giving Cagni’s men the advantage. Amid the astonished disbelief of the stadium, Empoli swerves, takes the blow and falls into the chasm darker, the one that clouds the ideas, paralyzes the legs, suffocates the will. At 65′ the Vicenza he takes advantage of it and, again with Paolucci, gives the defeated boxer what seems like the definitive knockout: it’s 2-0 for the Venetians. Castellani is speechless, suspended in a ghostly silence. There are endless minutes in which before letting oneself go into absolute discouragement and falling intoabyssone wonders whether what we are witnessing is really happening, or whether it is some sort of nightmare more vivid and tangible than usual.
Suddenly, in the 71st minute, there is the flash that illuminates the darkest night and rekindles hope. Levan Mchedlidzethrown into the fray a few minutes ago in place of Valdifiori, deflects a shot from Maccarone fouled by a Vicenza defender and shortens the distance. The Empoli fans come back to life and regain colour. Time is running out: almost 7,000 souls the Italians take charge of bringing the ball back to midfield together with the Georgian giant. Two minutes pass and, in the 73rd minute, Tavano he escapes from the grip of two red and white defenders and is knocked down in the area by Brighenti: it’s a penalty kick. The striker from Campania goes to the spot and shocks Frison and complete the most incredible comeback ever. The liberating cry of Marathon it is deafening and sweeps away in an instant all the tensions accumulated in those minutes of panic and anguish. It seems over but that is an evening destined to never end. The destiny decided to write the most bizarre and emotional ending in Empoli’s history.
It is not an evening for weak hearts, it is the sharing of an event to be told to posterity, to be passed down from generation to generation, to be preserved forever in the treasure chest of our memory. In the 87th minute the cold shower. Frost envelops the stadium when Signorelli holds in the area Giani and the referee decrees a penalty for Vicenza. When Paolucci appears on the spot, i chills they run along the back. Castellani is in a trance. It’s a bomb waiting to explode with the loudest scream ever, or a sandcastle ready to fall apart and be swallowed up into nothingness. Eleven meters that separate ecstasy from hell. The last bastion to hold on to is called Renato Dossena. An anti-character that fate has decided to crown king for a night. The Empoli goalkeeper instinctively dives to his right and blocks Paolucci’s shot. And the delirium. Castellani becomes a euphoric mass of excitement, tears, anger, madness and irrationality.
When Maccarone he flies away alone towards the opponent’s area in the 94th minute surreal silence, there is almost the sensation that there is an entire stadium traveling with him across the green space that separates him from Frison’s goal. When the right plate of Big Macs it goes to the right of the Vicenza goalkeeper, reaching the apotheosis, the exhaustion. A moment of ecstasy collective impossible to describe.
On the other hand, as the French poet said Baudelairethe most beautiful emotions are the ones you can’t explain.Dogs he puts his hands in his hair in resignation. Aglietti he bends on his knees: he has yet to metabolize what has happened. President Courses in the stands he is overwhelmed with joy, carried away by the enthusiasm that flares up around him. There Marathonwho sang incessantly, screamed, suffered, enjoyed for 95 minutes, can abandon himself toinebriation of the celebrations.
Too much adrenaline it ran through my veins: that night no Empoli fan will ever be able to sleep a wink. Anyone who experienced that match will remember having gone through thehell to go out and see them again stars. It is the match that changes the course of Italy’s history and determines everything that comes after. Who was present onJune 8, 2012 to watch the Empoli-Vicenza play-off, he won’t just say “I was there” but he will add “I survived him”.
