Chievo advanced to the semi-finals of the Serie B play-offs after a thrilling 1-1 match against Empoli, decided in extra-time and with three missed penalties.
The Gialloblu needed extra-time at the Bentegodi to overcome Empoli and secure a place in the semi-finals of the play-offs, where Spezia are waiting for the Mussi Volanti.
Empoli goalkeeper Alberto Brignoli saved Filip Dordevic’s penalty after 56 minutes and kept dream alive.
The genuine cost of Victor Osimhen’s transfer from Lille to Napoli has been calculated at €47.5m, with some accounting techniques used to reach €80m, claim the Corriere dello Sport.
Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis usually refuses to give details on the cost of his transfer deals, but was very eager to tell various reporters that the cost was €80m.
Italian sources were consistent in pointing to the transfer fee as €50m plus difficult to achieve bonuses.
Pordenone, Spezia, Cittadella, Frosinone, Chievo and Empoli are in the Serie B promotion play-offs, but Pescara or Perugia will go into Serie C.
Click here for the full Serie B section, including results, fixtures and tables.
Benevento and Crotone had already secured automatic promotion to Serie A for next season.
Pordenone and Spezia enter the promotion play-offs from the semi-final stage.
Atalanta are grabbing headlines all over Europe, but Susy Campanale insists they are only at the forefront of a spectacular attacking movement in Serie A football.
Italian football has this reputation for being boring, defensive, entirely dominated by one team and the others all simply roll over for them. None of that is true in 2020. Well, alright, so Juventus are on track for a ninth consecutive title, but even here it’s far from a comfortable victory parade. Atalanta, Sassuolo, Hellas Verona, even Bologna and Lecce, are all part of the new breed of Serie A club. Unapologetically provincial, but with the mindset of a potential giant.
Ezequiel Schelotto looks back over his career, including regrets at ‘tearing up’ his Inter contract and mixed results in Brighton. ‘People really let me down.’
Now 31, the Italian-Argentine played his international football for the Azzurri and spent most of his career in Serie A, but is currently back in the Premier League with Brighton.
Think you know your Capocannoniere from your catenaccio? Test your Italian football knowledge with Football Italia’s calcio quiz, Serie A 2006-07 edition!
The 2006-07 Serie A season began in the shadow of two seismic events in Italia football – the Calciopoli affair that relegated Juventus to Serie B for the first time, and the national team’s stunning World Cup 2006 success.
Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Leandro Paredes has revealed Juventus tried to sign him nine years ago, but his agent rejected the move.
The Old Lady have been linked with the Argentine in recent months and the 25-year-old, who has played for Chievo, Roma and Empoli in Italy, has claimed he was close to joining Juventus as a teenager.
In an interview with TNT Sport, Paredes said: “In 2011, a Juventus director tried to buy me and told me he wanted me as back-up for [Andrea] Pirlo.
Think you know your Capocannoniere from your catenaccio? Test your Serie A knowledge with Football Italia’s calcio quiz, 2005-06 edition!
The 2005-06 Serie A season will ultimately be remembered for one thing: Calciopoli. The investigation exposed a web of contacts and undue influence, with Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi sitting at the centre of it.
Calciopoli only came to light in May 2006, at a time when Juve should have been celebrating the Scudetto. Instead they were relegated to Serie B and had two titles stripped from their record, with the fallout from that decision still causing controversy today.
Bernardo Corradi reveals he almost joined Milan rather than Valencia, but changed his mind out of ‘gratitude’ to Lazio.
The centre-forward is now a youth team coach aged 44 and hung up his boots after one final experience at the Montreal Impact in 2012.
“My football journey was different to most, because when I was 18, I was still dividing my time between the lower leagues, having to do night school and fit that around training sessions,” Corradi told Sky Sport Italia.
Think you know your Capocannoniere from your catenaccio? Test your Serie A knowledge with Football Italia’s calcio quiz, 2004-05 edition!
The 2004-05 edition of Serie A took on a different complexion to seasons before, as the league expanded to 20 teams. A controversy in Serie B from the 2002-03 season led to a record number of club being promoted ahead of the 2004-05 campaign, creating a 20-team league that remains the status quo.
