Serie A, Verona-Empoli 1-1: goals from Gaich and Stojanovic

From our correspondent Matteo Pierelli

May 28th
– Verona

It was a great opportunity to exploit, but Verona fails to seize it and takes the boos of its audience. Right on the edge of the finish line, in the 96th minute, Hellas was joined by Empoli on 1-1 by Stojanovic, after Hellas seemed to have saved their skin. Gaich, in the 61st minute, as soon as he entered, had in fact brought his players in front of him and most of it seemed done. But no: an orderly Empoli, always careful not to give space to opponents, never in trouble, did not give discounts. Paolo Zanetti’s team, back from the success against Juve and had already saved for some time, stopped the yellow-blues’ race who reached but didn’t overtake Spezia in fourth from last place. Everything will be decided on the last day: Verona will go to San Siro with Milan, the Ligurians will go to the Olimpico with Roma. At this moment, with the two teams level on points, there would be a playoff.

The key

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Verona starts surprisingly without Verdi, with Ngonge and Tameze supporting lone striker Djuric. In midfield Zaffaroni chooses the experience of captain Miguel Veloso. Even Empoli has to do without an important pawn: Caputo remained in the hotel due to a high fever, Roberto Piccoli took his place. The first part of the match is a study. Hellas tries to break through on the right by exploiting Ngonge’s speed, Empoli plays with the serenity of those who have a clear mind and try to keep control of the game. Just before the quarter of an hour, Verona’s ring arrives with Ngonge who jumps Luperto but kicks out from a good position. Shortly after, good action on the right by Ngonge himself with Vicar who rejects with his foot. In the 18th minute there was a very special occasion on the other side with Cacace who, alone in front of Montipò, fired at the goalkeeper, good at staying up until the last minute. The match is alive, Empoli tries to sting as soon as they can. As he did with Cambiaghi in the 35th minute: a high shot after a good action triggered by Akpa Akpro and Piccoli. Before the end of the first half, there was time to applaud Vicario’s punch on a shot by Ngonge, the Gialloblù’s most active man in the first 45 minutes.

Q&A

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In the second half Zaffaroni removes a struggling Cabal on the left and puts in Ceccherini. But above all, shortly after, he throws in Gaich who turns out to be the decisive man: in the 61st minute the Argentine is good at throwing in a rebound from Vicario on Ngonge’s big blow from outside. Yet, shortly before, Verona took a big risk: Ebuehi headed off a goal this big. Once they took the lead, Verona tried to control a hyper offensive Empoli with the entries of Vignato, Destro and Satriano. And the Tuscans, in the last round of the clock, manage to equalize with a diagonal from Stojanovic, left too free to enter the area. The Bentegodi is frozen, the verdict on salvation postponed to the last day.