Claudio Ranieri with Cagliari to Serie A, Cyril Ngonge shoots Jeroen Zoet to Serie B | Foreign football

Cagliari played against Bari for the last ticket for promotion. The number five of this season in Serie B was ultimately too strong for Bari, the number three of this season on the second level in Italy, in the final of the play-offs. After last Thursday’s 1-1 draw in Sardinia, tonight was the decisive game at the Stadio San Nicola in Bari. In the southeast of Italy, no less than 58,000 saw an exciting match.

With another draw, Bari was promoted, as that club finished two places higher in the regular season. That seemed to happen for a long time, but in the 94th minute Leonardo Pavoletti made it 0-1. For example, the 34-year-old striker from Livorno became the great hero, after he had only come on in the 89th minute.

The 71-year-old Claudio Ranieri, who started his coaching career in 1986, was appointed as Cagliari’s new trainer in early January. At that time the Rossoblu in fourteenth place in Serie B. Six months later, Ranieri and his side are promoted to Serie A. Ranieri achieved his greatest success in the 2015/2016 season, when he rocked the football world by winning Premier League titles Leicester City become league.

There was also an exciting play-off at the Mapei Stadium in Reggio Emilia. There, Spezia Calcio and Hellas Verona faced each other in a direct duel against relegation, after both clubs had taken 31 points in 38 games this season. It was the first time since 2005 that a decision game had to be played again to designate the last relegated player.

In a spectacular first half, four goals were scored, three of them for Hellas Verona. It remained at 3-1, which means that Hellas Verona can return to Serie A next season. After an early goal from Davide Faraoni, Ethan Ampadu equalized after fifteen minutes, but then Cyril Ngonge struck twice on behalf of Hellas Verona. In the 68th minute, Faraoni received a red card, but Hellas Verona held on with ten men.

The 23-year-old Belgian attacker Ngonge made the switch from FC Groningen to Hellas Verona in January, after he also played in the Netherlands for Jong PSV and RKC Waalwijk. After three goals in fourteen league matches, he played a major role tonight with two hits in the maintenance of Hellas Verona, which stunted with the Italian national title in the 1984/1985 season.

Jeroen Zoet sat on the bench at Spezia Calcio, after he had scored in the away match at AS Roma last week. The 32-year-old goalkeeper from Veendam has another year under contract with Spezia, which took him over from PSV three years ago for 1.5 million euros. The three-time champion of the premier league has only played nineteen matches in Serie A, five of which this season.