HISTORY TELLS US. Are they our bête noire? Yes, but perhaps no longer

Do we tend to remember the good times or the bad times more? The human mind is usually programmed to "forget" difficult episodes more quickly. The match that awaits Pisa on Saturday afternoon brings with it all these connotations: in the collective imagination of the Nerazzurri fans, Cittadella is the plastic representation of the "black beast". Goal scores suffered at home, refereeing errors of varying degrees, matches that seem to be governed by a capricious and bizarre deity: during the clashes with the Paduan team, Sporting Club has truly suffered everything. But if there is a positive lesson left as a legacy from last season, it is that even Cittadella can be defeated by dominating the game and creating opportunity after opportunity. Under Alberto Aquilani's management, the Nerazzurri have in fact been able to make it two out of two in the challenges with the Granata club: victory in the first leg and success in the return leg at the "Tombolato". Consider that this objective, in all 25 previous matches accumulated from 1999 to today, has been achieved only on one other occasion: in the 2002-2003 season, in Serie C. After that, from 2008 to 2023, the Granata were able to string together 11 victories in 14 official clashes, played between Serie B and Coppa Italia. A score so "tragically" negative that it has made the Paduan club take on the characteristics of a bogeyman, partly faded by the most recent matches in which Pisa managed to string together three consecutive victories, the last of which kindly "granted" by Cittadella with the use of Jacopo Desogus.

MA