As if the national team missing out on this summer’s World Cup was not bad enough, fans of Serie A and Italian football in general remain frozen in a strange limbo, unable to fully enjoy events in Russia, but also not yet permitted to look forward to next season with anticipation. Why? Because while Premier League supporters already have their 2018/19 fixture lists and audiences across the globe were happily enjoying Croatia versus Nigeria on Saturday evening, the game on the peninsula was once again descending into chaos.
Oh, you thought the season was over? Nope. At around the same time you might have been admiring the Nigeria warm up jacket – after all, who could blame you? – Frosinone were taking on Palermo in the Serie B Playoff final. Yes, while leagues across Europe were decided weeks ago, the last place in Italy’s top flight was still up for grabs, the score finely poised after the latter emerged with a narrow 2-1 win at home in the first meeting.
Frosinone’s Raffaele Maiello scored early in the first half to erase that deficit, but that goal is unlikely to be remembered given what followed. In fact, by the time he found the back of the net the game had already become chaotic, the first nine minutes seeing three yellow cards, a shoving match, a booking for simulation and a player subbed off due to injury.
Playing at home and having finished higher in the league, Frosinone knew a win by any scoreline would take them up to Serie A, but the tension was incredible. So much so that when Canarini team-mates Matteo Ciofani and Emanuele Terranova tried to head the same cross, they ended up arguing between themselves.
With 30 minutes left to play the referee lost control completely. After initially giving Palermo a free kick on the edge of the box, the official changed his mind and awarded a penalty, only to reverse that decision following yet another standoff between players from both sides. Rosanero forward Ilija Nestorovski looked to have been head-butted by a Frosinone player during that altercation, while his team-mate Paweł Dawidowicz – who went off injured early in the first half but then sat on the bench – was shown a red card for dissent.
Mirko Gori was then taken off with a dislocated shoulder but, as Palermo pushed forward in desperate search of an equaliser, the evening took perhaps its most bizarre twist yet. Suddenly, extra balls began appearing on the pitch, some thrown from behind the goal but later a video emerged that clearly showed Frosinone players doing the same.
Camillo Ciano would grab a second goal on the break to seal victory for the hosts, with Coach Moreno Longo then going on TV and claiming it was only right that his side were promoted, “otherwise, a club would’ve gone into Serie A that didn’t have its finances in order.”
That, as well as the various incidents on the pitch, prompted an understandably angry reaction from Palermo. “We have instructed our lawyers to lodge an appeal and support it with all the necessary evidence,” owner Maurizio Zamparini declared in a video message on the club’s official website. “I think the referee changed his mind on the penalty because he was besieged and intimidated by the opposition team, to the point that he didn’t sanction with a red card the Ilija Nestorovski head-butt that happened right in front of him.
“It was a series of events that has nothing to do with legality. It was an illegal game. From that moment on, the referee lost his bearings and we will take the necessary steps, hoping this can all lead us to have justice, because the spectacle Frosinone gave to Italian football was undignified. Their players even started throwing extra footballs on to the pitch to stop our attacking moves. It was not punished by the referees, the fourth official, nor the linesman.”
While Zamparini’s reputation precedes him, his Frosinone counterpart Maurizio Stirpe has earned widespread respect for the work he has done improving the structure of his club off the field. Yet after apologising for the actions of his own players, he ended his own interview with Sky by saying he “couldn’t care less about how you judge us” and then the following day published an aggressive statement on his own club’s website which read:
“We don’t know what match Mr Zamparini saw last night, nor do we care, but Frosinone-Palermo was certainly directed by a team of six match officials, as well as numerous representatives of the Federal Prosecutor and the Lega Serie B inspectors who, in unison, ruled the game was perfectly valid.
“We believe it is important to know also how to lose, dear Palermo and dear Zamparini, which is why when referee La Penna blew the whistle for the end of the match, the result on the field was clear to everyone. Palermo can announce any appeal they like, but be sure that Frosinone and its President will reply in the opportune arenas of sporting justice, backed by the truth of the matter and having played a play-off that was yes fiery and tense, but always respecting the rules, the opponents and the referees.
“Nobody, however, must dare to sully the journey throughout an entire season of a fantastic group, made up of directors, athletes, Coaches and fans, always inspired by fair play, friendship and the founding values of sport, which for almost 20 years have been at the centre of our mission. If they do, then those responsible will pay for it in sporting, civil and penal courts.”
Palermo’s Coach has since likened the match – which also ended 90 seconds early due to a pitch invasion – to “urban warfare,” insisting that their opponents were more interested in “a brawl” than a football match.
As it stands, Frosinone are in Serie A once again, but what happens next is anyone’s guess. Now, about those Nigeria jackets...
