Empoli, three golden points for salvation: 2-1 to Parma
A victory that could prove crucial in the race for salvation. To get it is Empoli, which beating Parma 2-1 peeps out of the relegation zone, bringing itself +1 from Lecce, now third-last in the Serie A standings. The same Ducali, moreover, risk being sucked back into a battle from which they seemed definitively safe: for them, the Salentini, with a game still to play, are -5.
The team is now at -5.
For Empoli everything seems to be going well from the start of the match at Castellani, as already at 11’11’ Fazzini smashes the goal with a great right-footed shot from Henderson’s corner, slipping the ball into the seventh. Pellegrino looked for an equalizer for Parma, which, however, shortly after the half-hour mark was left with 10 men due to a double yellow to Valenti.
.
The match seemed to be going downhill for the hosts, with Henderson coming close to doubling the score in what would have been a eurogoal in the opening half. Instead, the goal came, at 73′ but Parma scored it: it was the work of Djuric, with a header on an assist from Hernani on which Vasquez did not arrive (and neither did Bonny, just a few steps away from the goalkeeper). Decisive then becomes Anjorin, who at’86’ brings Empoli back to life with a torpedo from outside the box that is impassable for Suzuki.
Now it looks good indeed for Empoli: not only fourth-last, but awaited by challenges against Monza and Verona before the end of Serie A. Calendar far more benign than that of Parma itself but especially of Lecce and Venezia, which still hope to hit a very complicated salvation.
