Hellas Verona and Pisa fall short, Sammarco and Hiljemark start with a point

The twenty-fourth day of Serie A began with a 0-0 draw between Hellas Verona and Pisa at the Bentegodi, a match that pitted two coaches on their very first bench in the top division against each other: neither Paolo Sammarco, who took the reins of the Gialloblù in place of Paolo Zanetti, nor Oscar Hiljemark, the Nerazzurri’s new coach after Alberto Gilardino’s dismissal, were able to win, however, having to settle instead for a point that moves little in a deficit standings for both.

The first half is alive with flare-ups and wasted chances, with the Gialloblù more dangerous. Gift Orban came close to scoring twice: first he clumsily missed the impact from a very good position on 26′, then hit a full post on a free kick on the turn a few minutes later, on 33′. Verona also close to the lead at 37′, but an attacking foul by Orban makes the action in vain. Pisa tried to respond with a few restarts and a couple of corners, but struggled to make itself really incisive in a first half characterized by many physical duels.

Francesco Lucivero

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The second half opened with three changes: Pisa inserted Leris for Durosinmi, Verona responded with Bradaric and Serdar in place of Frese and Bernede. The pace remains low until the hour of play, then the game turns on and Pisa tries to get closer to the opponent’s goal, with Stojilkovic who at 61′ has a good ball but misses the size of the pass to Morleo. Hiljemark changes again, inserting Meister and Calabresi for Stojilkovic and Bozhinov, while Sammarco responds with Lirola and Mosquera in place of Niasse and Gift Orban.

At 75′ a shock: Moreo hits the post with a header and on the rebound Montipò saves on Caracciolo. Shortly afterwards Meister has another ball for 1-0 but kicks on the goalkeeper. Final broken, not enough four minutes of recovery: neither team finds the decisive breakthrough, the match ends 0-0.

Already dead last before this round of the championship, Hellas Verona and Pisa remain at the bottom of the Serie A standings with 15 points and must hope for a negative result from Fiorentina and Lecce against Torino and Udinese, respectively, in order not to see the salvation zone recede further at a very delicate time of the season.