Serie B Playoffs, Cagliari-Bari 1-1: goals by Lapadula, equal by Antenucci

Lapadula scores at the start of the game, Radunovic saves everything but in full recovery Bari equalizes from a penalty: it ends 1-1 at the Unipol Domus. The Peruvian striker unlocks the first leg playoff final with a header in the 9th minute. The goalkeeper of the Sardinians is the best of him: throughout the match he puts up a wall in front of the goal. He saves Cheddira’s penalty in ’37 and blocks every opportunity for his opponents. Then in the 95th minute the referee whistled a penalty for the guests for a contact between Altare and Folorunsho, Antonucci went on the spot who came in to kick the penalty and evened the score. Sunday 11 June the return match at San Nicola: Mignani’s team arrives there with two results out of three available. There are no overtime or penalties, in the event of a tie in goals scored, it will be the best placed in the standings to win promotion to Serie A: i.e. Bari third.

Radunovich wall

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Cagliari started well, moved compactly between departments and forced their opponents to play on the counterattack. Just 9′ go by and at the first ball touched Lapadula puts it on the net. Mancosu frees himself from the edge, starts the cross for the Peruvian attacker who makes no mistake with his header: there are 25 goals between the championship and the playoffs. After a few minutes comes the reaction of Bari: from Esposito’s corner, Zuzek’s header goes very close to equalizing. However, the Sardinians continue to attack quickly, in the 20th minute Deiola hits the crossbar with a header. Midway through the first half, Bari didn’t find the right space: Benedetti fired from afar in the 27th minute, then in the 37th minute the visitors earned a penalty for Nandez’s touch in the area. Cheddira goes on the spot, Radunovic amazing saves the shot and also the rebound. In full recovery, Mignani’s formation is still dangerous with the Moroccan attacker who heads from a corner to the side by very little.

Antenucci factor

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Bari’s best chance comes from Cheddira’s feet in the 49th minute: the player checks on the edge of the area, dribbles past Goldaniga and has Radunovic save his shot. Shortly after, Mancosu stops and is forced to go out: instead of him inside Prelec. The rhythms are lowered, Cagliari are no longer able to have an impact as in the first fraction. In the 59th minute Benedetti heeled Morachioli’s cross, the Cagliari goalkeeper denied him the goal: yet another decisive intervention of the match. Ranieri and Mignani are also thinking about dosing the energies of their players, on Sunday there is the second leg: Lapadula and Esposito out, space for Pavoletti and Folorunsho. In the 82nd minute Ceter counterattacked in front of Radunovic and had his shot blocked. In the 88th minute Bari had yet another chance to challenge: Cheddira shoots, Zappa saves on the line, Bellomo tries again from outside and the Sardinian goalkeeper relaxes: they don’t pass. In full recovery, Altare touches Folorunsho in the area: the referee reviews the action at the Var and whistles the penalty. This time Antenucci went to the spot, as soon as he replaced Benedetti, and he made no mistake: 1-1 at Unipol Domus. Tenth goal of the season for the striker born in ’84. We play until the 102nd minute, Prelec jumps well from a corner and is out. We remain tied, on Sunday the decisive match at San Nicola.