A verdict has arrived, but above all a thrilling Serie A finale in the relegation battle. Cagliari secured mathematical safety by beating Torino , while everything remains wide open for 17th place, with Lecce and Cremonese now left alone in the duel to stay in Serie A.
The side from Salento found a crazy 96th-minute win away at Sassuolo and took their fate back into their own hands ahead of the final matchday. Huge disappointment instead for Cremonese: the grigiorossi won in Udine, but saw 17th place slip away in the very final moments after Lecce's decisive goal.
Let's take a look at what happened in the three matches.
16. CAGLIARI - 40 points (safe)
17. LECCE - 35 points
18. CREMONESE - 34 points
19. Verona - 21 points (already down to Serie B)
20. Pisa - 18 points (already down to Serie B)
Lecce will face Genoa , while Cremonese will take on Como . If they finish level on points, a playoff will be played at the Via del Mare.
Cagliari are safe! The rossoblù came from behind against Torino and mathematically secured their Serie A status for the third consecutive year with one round still to play.
After an almost completely cagey first half, everything happened late in the opening period: Obrador beat Caprile with a rocket from distance, but Esposito replied immediately by picking out the corner for 1-1. Then, almost at the break, Mina rose highest from a corner and completed the turnaround, sending the Unipol Domus into raptures.
Lecce looked destined for Serie B, but in the end everything changed.
Sassuolo's historic night from Cheddira was not enough, as he answered Vardy and grabbed a brace in the opening 25 minutes: first a clinical diagonal finish on the counter, then a header from Banda's perfect cross.
But the Salento side were pegged back: Laurienté stunned them to make it 1-1, Thorsvedt had a goal ruled out after an extremely long VAR check, and late on Pinamonti made it 2-2 with a superb backheel. But then the incredible happened at the Mapei: Volpato wasted the possible Sassuolo winner, and from the very next transition Stulic struck an astonishing 3-2 for Lecce right at the death.
A wild victory, arriving just seconds away from what could have been a defeat, completely relaunches Lecce in the survival race and could be worth an entire season. Also worth noting was a brawl that broke out right after Stulic's goal.
Cremonese did what they had to do, winning in Udine thanks to Vardy's goal, and for long stretches they were dreaming of a remarkable escape. The former Leicester striker decided the match after just nine minutes, taking advantage of a terrible Udinese error and beating Okoye on the rebound.
There were plenty of incidents at the Bluenergy Stadium: Manganiello first awarded a penalty to the Friulians, then overturned it after a VAR check for Kabasele 's offside. In the second half, Kamara was also shown a straight red for a foul on Vardy, only for it to be downgraded to a yellow after the on-field review.
But Cremonese went from joy to despair late on: Stulic's stoppage-time goal against Sassuolo revived Lecce and left the grigiorossi with one and a half feet in Serie B with just one matchday remaining.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.
