Venezia Seal Promotion to Serie A
On Thursday night, Venezia managed to book a place in next season’s Serie A. They managed to win the Serie B play-offs and win promotion to join other promoted sides Empoli and Salernitana in Serie A next season.
Venezia saw off Chievo in the preliminary round with a 3-2 extra time win. They won the first leg in the next round against Lecce 1-0 and drew the second leg 1-1 to set up a play-off final with Cittadella. Venezia won the first leg 1-0 with a goal from Francesco Di Mariano.
The second leg took place last night at the Stadio Pierluigi Penzo, the home of Venezia. Federico Proia put Cittadella ahead on the night when he poked Manuel Iori’s cross into the net in the 25th minute.
In the 35th minute, Venezia were reduced to ten men when Pasquale Mazzocchi received two yellows in the space of 30 seconds. Cittadella searched for the goal that would take them up, while Venezia knew if they could keep the score at 1-0 on the night and 1-1 on aggregate, they would be promoted at the end of the 90 minutes due to a better league position.
In the 92nd minute a low cross from Venezia’s left side by Youssef Maleh found Riccardo Bocalon who flicked the ball past a diving Elhan Kastrati to spark scenes of jubilation among Venezia staff and players. Venezia won 2-1 on aggregate to win promotion to the top division of Italian football.
The win sees Venezia play Serie A football next season for the first time since they were relegated in 2002. They will be able to enjoy games with the likes of Juventus, Milan, and Inter.
