Football, Cremonese returns to Serie A

Cremonese conquers the 'Picco' 3-2 and returns to Serie A, two goals in one minute are not enough for Spezia. The pace is immediately very high, with both teams not making calculations after the 0-0 of the first leg and the coaches change something: Vazquez as a midfielder and Collocolo as a creative winger for Cremonese, Salvatore Esposito returns for the Ligurians.

The Grigiorossi push at the start and the first chance is theirs, with Gori parrying Azzi's shot. The goalkeeper is not so reactive in the 25th minute when, on Vazquez's throw, he completely misses the exit: De Luca resists the clash with the defender and beats him with his toe.

The former Sampdoria player almost scores again and hits the crossbar, while Spezia comes back towards the end of the half, but does not create any significant chances. It seems like the prelude to the equaliser for the eagles, but Cremonese scores again: a scramble from a corner and a winning header from Collocolo, with Vazquez perhaps slightly correcting it into a goal (63'). Spezia exits the game and also concedes the third, losing De Luca in the 79th minute: winning tap-in after Gori's save on another shot from Azzi.

It all seemed over, even on an emotional level, but Spezia suddenly woke up and reopened the game in the space of a single minute: goals by Pio Esposito (83') and Vignali (84') put both the Ligurians and Picco back in the game. With a draw Spezia would go up to Serie A, so it was a final assault and siege in a very hot stadium: Kouda almost scored the equaliser, then the game suddenly got tense. Vignali was sent off after an on-field review for a bad foul on Folino (95'), while Nasti left the field seven minutes after coming on for protests against the referee (99'). He, who had missed Cremonese's poker, ended the match with ten men against ten. Cremonese celebrated anyway, regaining Serie A, a celebration for the grigiorossi.

The Lombards thus join Sassuolo and Pisa who had secured promotion to the top flight by finishing in the top two positions at the end of the B championship.