Spezia and Verona go head-to-head

Only one will remain. Spezia and Hellas Verona go head to head on neutral ground in Reggio Emilia at 20:45 CEST this evening in the relegation decider, which will see one team stay in Serie A TIM and the other go down to Serie B. Spezia are the designated home team given their higher standings. The Aquilotti are unbeaten in their last two games against Verona in Serie A TIM, having taken four points in that time, after three defeats in the four games prior. 90 minutes of fire await us and, in case it ends level, the game will go straight to penalties, with no extra time. This is the 13th time that a play-off has been needed to decide which of at least two teams will stay in Serie A TIM, the sixth one-off match. The most recent was in the play-out tournament in 2004/05; the two-legged final between Parma and Bologna was won by the Gialloblù. The most recent one-off game on neutral ground (was at the end of the 1996/97 season when Piacenza beat Cagliari 3-1 in Naples. Only once has the play-off been decided on penalties, in 1994/95 when Padova beat Genoa in the shoot-out. This will be Hellas Verona’s second play-off in their history. They won their first, beating Reggina at the end of the 2000/01 season. The Scaligeri won 1-0 in the first leg – Laursen with the goal – and then Cossato’s away goal in the second leg meant a 2-1 loss was still enough for Attilio Perotti’s side to stay up. Spezia, who haven’t won away from the Picco under the tenure of Leonardo Semplici, finished the 2022/23 season with 62 goals conceded, their best defensive record in a single Serie A TIM season to date (71 in 2021/22 and 72 in 2020/21). Hellas Verona, meanwhile, picked up 26 of their 31 points in the league in 2022/23 from January onwards. Furthermore, the Gialloblù dropped more points from winning positions than any other team in Serie A TIM in 2022/23: 26, only Nottingham Forest (27) and Troyes (28) have done worse in Europe’s Top-5 leagues this year. The Ligurian side will be hoping for a big performance from M’Bala Nzola, who scored 42% of Spezia’s league goals in 2022/23. The Angolan won more points for his side with his goals than any other player in Serie A TIM 2022/23: 16 goals for 13 points. The Aquilotti will, however, have to make do with Gyasi and Amian, both of whom are suspended. Daniele Verdi made 30 appearances for Verona in Serie A in 2017/18 and also scored his first goal in the top flight of Italian football while at the club: in October 2017 in the derby against Chievo. Lorenzo Montipò, meanwhile, made more saves than any other goalkeeper in the league this season (126). Daniele Orsato has taken charge of 274 Serie A matches in his refereeing career so far, 15 of which came in the regular season in 2022/23. Spezia have never lost in their five matches, which have been refereed by Orsato, while Verona have lost four of their seven games (W2, D1) with tonight’s official in charge. (Photo LaPresse)