A real basement thriller was played out at the end of this season in Serie A. Three teams were still in the draw for the third relegation spot after Salernitana and Sassuolo
Two well-known coaches found themselves in the Italian cellar on matchday 38: On the one hand, Frosinone’s Eusebio di Francesco (ex-Sassuolo, ex-Roma), who was supposed to keep the Serie A promoted team in the league. On the other, Fabio Cannavaro, the recently installed savior from Udinese Calcio, a former world-class defender and 2006 World Cup winner.
And for a long time during the match, it looked as if both managers would be able to shake hands afterwards to congratulate each other on staying in the league. Because FC Empoli had held on to a 1-1 draw against Roma for a long time in the parallel game, both Frosinone and Udine were safe for a certain period of time
Di Francesco goes the way of his ex-club
However, things turned out quite differently: First of all, Udinese Calcio, who also featured ex-Hertha player Lazar Samardzic, scored a 1-0 winner in the 76th minute through Keinan Davis, a joker brought on by coach Cannavaro. By taking the lead and securing the same final result, the Zebras also protected themselves from a win by Empoli, as such a victory would have spelled sporting doom for Udine.
Frosinone, on the other hand, played with fire, failing to make much headway even in the closing minutes – and only had to realize shortly after the final whistle that Empoli had taken their luck into their own hands with a late 2:1 from M’Baye Niang (90+3) in the parallel match.
So there were plenty of celebrations in Tuscany and in the Udinese Calcio camp – coach Cannavaro was congratulated from all sides – as the team kept their place in the league. The situation virtually opposite Cannavaro was different: his fellow coach di Francesco had been relegated. With his team from Frosinone, the 54-year-old followed his former club Sassuolo and bottom-placed Salerno into Serie B.
