Serie A: Frosinone 3-0 Salernitana: Granata relegation confirmed

Salernitana have officially been relegated from Serie A after falling to a 3-0 loss away to Frosinone on Friday evening in the first match of the 34th round of league fixtures. Matias Soule, Marco Brescianni and Nadir Zortea sealed the deal at the Stadio Benito Stirpe.

The Granata required a win if they wanted to put off their relegation for another day or two, but going down seemed to be a matter of when, rather than if heading into Friday night’s game.

It looked rocky from the off for Salernitana. Matias Soule broke into the area from the right flank just three minutes in, and almost squeezed a toe-poke past Benoit Costil in the Frosinone net. A deflection upon contact took it onto the keeper’s gloves.

Disaster struck exactly five minutes later. A Zortea cross in from the right fell to Emanuele on the edge of the six-yard box, but he was being grappled to the floor by Junior Sambia, who could have no complaints at his subsequent booking.

Soule stepped up to confidently dispatch his penalty, sending Costil the wrong way, for his 11th Serie A goal of the 2023-24 season.

15 minutes in, Frosinone had doubled their lead and it was the left wing-back Valeri who found himself heavily involved again.

He picked up the ball from Walid Cheddira on the counter attack, before driving forwards and sending a first-time looped ball over the top for Brescianini to tuck home, effectively one-on-one in the area.

Salernitana tried to get themselves back in it from the re-start. Lassana Coulibaly’s header in the area 29 minutes in should have hit the target.

Emanuel Vignato was also sent through one-on-one, but it was a big ask for him to catch up with Loum Tchaouna’s slightly overcooked ball. Stefano Turati was also off his line incredibly quickly.

That would be Turati’s last significant involvement, as he was substituted off at half-time due to injury. Michele Cerofolini came on in his place.

Back out for the second half, it took almost 20 minutes for the first shot. That came from Cheddira, who dragged comfortably wide from 25 yards out after a tidy exchange with Luca Mazzitelli.

Entering the final third of the 90, it was Salernitana in control of possession as Frosinone looked to defend their points. There were also significant delays due to knocks on Brescianni and Pol Lirola. The latter was eventually withdrawn.

Second-half sub Alessandro Zanoli dug out a cross on the bounce after a drop by Cerofolini, but Coulibaly was only able to sky the ball well over the crossbar from the eventual knock-down.

Then, against the run of play, Zortea slipped through and into the Salernitana half on the counter attack. He had carried the ball half the length of the pitch, and appeared to be waiting for an overlap, before bending a low shot into the far post from a good 25 yards out.

With that, Salernitana needed a miracle if they were going to overturn the scores. They gave it a go, and there was a promising looking free-kick around the 80th minute, but there wasn’t enough on Federico Fazio’s header from the delivery.

The former Tottenham centre-back had a free header on the edge of the six yard box minutes later, but it went over this time, and was a symbol of how Salernitana’s night had gone. Though they created some opportunities, the final touches were never there.

Salernitana will now spend the 2024-25 campaign in Serie B. Frosinone meanwhile, still have four games left to confirm their status in the top flight for next season. They are now up to 17th and three points above Udinese, but they do not have the better goal difference, which means that everything could change again by the end of the weekend.