Chapter 30 The championship battle ends early

At 5 o'clock in the afternoon on May 11, the nine games of the 41st round of Serie B started at the same time, including two focus games. The top team Novara challenged Vercelli away, and the second-placed Saguaro Solo challenged Lanciano away.

Originally, these two dialogues with clearly defined strengths and weaknesses were not enough to become the focus of a round of competition.

Novara's opponent Vercelli is currently 21st in the standings, 19 points less than Ascoli, which is 8th in the standings, and has been relegated early.Therefore, this game actually has no meaning for Vercelli. At best, it can only be regarded as a battle of dignity.

Sassuolo's opponent Lanciano is currently ranked 17th in Serie B and is also a weak team in Serie B. There is no competitiveness against Sassuolo, who has dominated the standings for a long time this season.

However, for Lanciano, they are currently only 18 point higher than Reggina, who is 1th in the standings, and are in danger of falling into the relegation play-offs. Their fighting spirit should be stronger than Vercelli.

Precisely because the opponents of the two teams are in different situations, the Italian media and major gambling companies are more optimistic about Novara.

However, when the game started, the Novara people discovered that Vercelli, who had been relegated, was not easy to deal with.

Vercelli Football Club was one of the most successful clubs in the Italian League in the 1908th century. In the early 1922th century, they won seven Italian Football Association League championships (the predecessor of the Italian Football League) in . By , it was their era, although now they have declined and are about to hang out in the Italian Football League C.

Facing the powerful Novara, Vercelli showed strong fighting spirit. For no other reason than this game is called a derby.

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Vercelli and Novara are two adjacent small cities, with a straight-line distance of only 20 kilometers, although they are each in the same province.

There is a saying in football that there are enemies from afar, which makes the relationship between the two clubs never friendly.

However, Vercelli never paid much attention to Novara.

In the eyes of the Vercelli people, they are the aristocrats of Italian football, even if they are now in decline. At least facing their neighbor Novara, who has been hanging out in the lower leagues, they can still say with a sense of superiority: "My ancestors were rich!"

However, something happened at the end of the last century that directly worsened the relationship between the two clubs.

This is related to Silvio Piola, a legendary figure in the history of Italian football. The legend, who still holds the record for the most goals in Serie A with 274 goals, started playing for Vercelli at the age of 16 and grew into one of the best forwards in Serie A here.

In 1934, the Vercelli club had financial problems and had to sell Piola to Lazio. After the star player left, Provercelli was immediately relegated and never returned to Serie A again.

After the end of World War II, Piola returned to his hometown, but at that time Vercelli was already ups and downs between Serie B and Serie C. Piola joined Novara and brought the team back from Serie B to Serie A.

Piola died in 1996, and both Vercelli and Novara chose to name the club's home stadium after him.

The two stadiums, which are only 20 kilometers apart, both have the same name. You can imagine what the fans of the two teams will think.

What's more, Novara has begun to rise in recent years. It returned to Serie A two years ago. Although it was relegated after only playing for one season, it once again hit Serie A this year and even won the Serie B championship. You can imagine the mood of Vercelli fans. Know.

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In order to spoil the mood of the people of Novara, Vercelli decided to show Novara a little bit.

After the game started, although his strength was obviously weaker than that of Novara, Vercelli tenaciously resisted Novara's attacks amidst the cheers of the home fans, and in the 31st minute of the game , through a corner kick opportunity, the team's central defender, the veteran Skaglier, who will turn 10 in 36 days, scored with a header and took the lead.

After Vercelli scored, the home team fans laughed wildly at Novara. Because at this time, in Lanciano in central Italy, Sassuolo was leading the home team Lanciano 2:1.

In the Serie B real-time standings, Novara has been overtaken by Sassuolo and dropped to second place in the league.

But the Vercelli people were only happy for less than 10 minutes.

First, in the 33rd minute of the game, 2 minutes after they scored, Novara quickly equalized the score. Bruno sent a penetrating pass in the middle of the midfield. Gonzalez on the striker passed the ball back, and Lazzari stepped in and scored the ball.

The Vercelli people were already unhappy at this time, but thinking that Novara was still ranked second in the standings, they could still accept it.

However, when Sassuolo was equalized by Lanciano in the 41st minute of the game, many Vercelli fans complained in the stands:

<divclass="contentadv">How useless!

I can't even seize the opportunity given to you!

You deserve not to win the championship!

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In the first half, both games ended in a draw, with Vercelli 1:1 Novara and Lanciano 2:2 Sassuolo.

In the real-time standings, Novara is temporarily ranked first with 83 points, and Sassuolo is ranked second with 82 points.

Verona leads Stabia 1:0, and its points have risen to 81 points, temporarily ranking third.

Livorno had already defeated Brescia 3-0 at home on the first day of the game, scoring 80 points and ranking fourth.

The competition for the championship has turned into a battle among the top four, and even the two Serie A seats for direct promotion have not yet been determined.

Such a chaotic situation naturally makes neutral fans happy, but for fans of these four teams, it is torture.

After the start of the second half, Verona took the lead to seal the victory. They first gave opponent defender Di Cuozo a red card in the 48th minute of the game, and then scored two goals in the 53rd and 66th minutes to increase their lead to 3 goals.

At this time, the situation in the other two games has not changed.

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At Vercelli's Piola Stadium, Novara's head coach began to make substitution adjustments. He replaced a midfielder and replaced him with Libertacci, a young midfielder who came from the Juventus youth training camp.

The 21-year-old young forward is meters tall, has strong header ability, and can stand in the penalty area.

In addition, at this time, the Novara midfielder led by Bruno has stubbornly suppressed Vercelli in the backcourt. Sending a big man, Texel naturally hopes to smash Vercelli's goal with a header.

Texel's substitution adjustment worked in the 81st minute of the game. Bruno sent a 45° pass from the right rib, bypassing Vercelli's interception in the penalty area, and accurately found the small penalty area line. Libertacci scored with a header from close range.

2:1, Novara takes the lead!

At this time, the Piola Stadium in Vercelli had fallen into silence. Only less than a thousand die-hard Novara fans who came to the away game were dancing excitedly in the corner of the stadium.

It's a pity that their number was too small and they didn't cause much trouble.

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In Lanciano, although Sassuolo's head coach Di Francesco was also deploying his troops, the Sassuolo people ultimately failed to complete another reversal of the score.

When the referee blew the whistle to end the game, the scoreboard at Piola Stadium still showed 1:2. According to international practice, the home team is in front.

At Lanciano's home court, the score on the scoreboard was 2:2!

In the Serie B standings, Novara's points have become 85 points, and they are 3 points ahead of second-placed Sassuolo.

Not only that, Novara also has a huge advantage in goal difference. They have a goal difference of 48, while Sassuolo's goal difference is only 36.

It can be said that this season's Serie B championship battle has ended one round early.

If Sassuolo wants to make a comeback, they not only have to count on Novara's disastrous home defeat to Lanciano in the final round, but they also have to win by a big score.

In this way, it is possible for Fang to recover 3 points and at the same time make up for the 12 goal difference disadvantage.