Empoli: vital draw against Venezia in the race for survival in Serie A

by Simone Cioni

The postponement of yesterday's matches, as a sign of mourning for the death of Pope Francis, has postponed the completion of the 33rd day of Serie A until tomorrow evening, which also involves two direct competitors of theEmpoli is preferably used for salvation: Parma and Cagliari, who will host Fiorentina and Juventus respectively. Both have the opportunity to extend their lead on the 'red' zone, but for the Azzurri it makes little difference. It is clear that, given Lecce's defeat, a victory against Venice would have allowed the Azzurri to detach the Lagunari and overtake the Salentini, thus returning out of the last three positions, but also the draw, especially for how it matured avoiding a knockout that would have looked a lot like a sentence, in the end could prove to be fundamental. To underline it himself D'Aversa at the end of the match. "The way the match went, we have to be satisfied. It's a draw that could be vitally important for salvation." In the first half, what the Italian coach feared happened, that is, the weight of the stakes was felt with captain Grassi and his teammates appearing tense and incapable of creating danger near Radu, while only a few decisive interventions by Vasquez allowed the team to go to half-time still tied. "The importance of the match perhaps made us a little tense at the beginning, but we created many opportunities to win it without being able to capitalize on them - D'Aversa continued in the post-match -. Losing it would have been hard to digest and instead this group, despite everything, reacted and brought home the draw. We are still in the running for salvation, we have to continue working."

After Fazzini's lead, the team actually seemed to have shaken off some of the fear and also created the conditions for doubling the lead, only to then commit two serious errors that cost Venezia the comeback. The returning player took care of putting things right Anjorin with his first goal for the Azzurri. "I was so involved at the moment of the goal that the only thought I had was to immediately bring the ball back to midfield to try to win – said the English midfielder – . We wanted the three points, but this is an important goal because it allowed us to avoid defeat and it is also important from a personal point of view. I have worked hard in the last few weeks".

Now on the horizon is the Coppa Italia challenge in Bologna next Thursday. A return semi-final that has become even more impossible than it already was before the 0-3 of the first leg. Inevitable, this time, yes, that the focus remains on the championship, where Empoli has still nibbled another point from Lecce and can finally smile, while crossing their fingers, for the important recovery of Anjorin (it took just a quarter of an hour to make it clear how much his physicality and quality were missed), but also that of the best Fazzini. In short, the confidence indicator may not have skyrocketed, but it is certainly a little fuller than last week. Certain mistakes, however, must not be made again.