South Tyrol and Modena Respond to Palermo; Mantua Slows Down
South Tyrol and Modena responded to Palermo’s victory by winning their respective Serie B matches on Sunday and staying on the heels of the league leader, which had defeated Padova on Saturday. Mantova, however, missed an opportunity to catch up, forced to settle for a home draw against Pisa—a result secured only in the final minutes of an extremely dramatic match. Verona also bounced back, staging a comeback to win the derby against Vicenza and moving ahead of their red-and-white rivals in the standings.
Südtirol’s victory was significant and impressive in terms of both the scoreline and the quality of their performance, as they secured a 4-1 win on the road against an Arezzo side that is gradually losing the momentum it had at the start of the season. The visitors took the lead in stoppage time of the first half with a goal by Rispoli and then scored again in the second half through Lopes (54’), Mixtur (68’), and Giorgini (79’) before Mancuso netted a consolation goal in the 81st minute. The Bolzano-based team is now two points behind Palermo, which shares the top spot with Mantova—the latter held to a 2-2 draw at home by Pisa, a team that long dreamed of pulling off an upset: After Gliozzi’s early goal for Pisa in the 8th minute, Pittarello in the 38th and Moreo in the 58th orchestrated the comeback. VAR then disallowed Rao’s third goal in the 83rd minute before Vlahovic’s equalizer in the 93rd minute.
Modena, meanwhile, remains 3 points behind Palermo after securing a win following yet another of the comebacks that defined Sunday in Serie B: At the Braglia Stadium, Yepes gave Empoli the lead in the 27th minute, but the Canaries went on to win 2–1 thanks to second-half goals by “Gallo” Belotti in the 61st minute and Ambrosino in the 70th minute. Verona is creeping into the playoff zone, sitting eighth with 7 points, while Vicenza remains on 5 and plummets to sixteenth place in the standings: here too, the 2-1 final score was the result of a comeback, with Mosquera’s lightning-fast brace (74’ and 76’) answering Rauti’s fleeting lead in the 58th minute.
For Südtirol, this was an important response, not least from a morale standpoint, following a difficult week on two fronts: the South Tyrolean “red-and-whites” had been eliminated from the Coppa Italia last Monday, losing 1-0 to Genoa at the Ferraris Stadium in the round of 32. That match was decided by a header from Vasquez in the 87th minute, with the Rossoblù capitalizing on their league advantage in the closing stages after Südtirol had come close to taking the lead early in the second half, with Simone Davi even hitting the crossbar. Possanzini’s team was thus able to quickly put their European disappointment behind them, returning to their best form against Arezzo.
Arezzo, for its part, continues to go through a worrying slump. The Amaranto, who had surprised everyone at the start of the season by racking up 6 points after the first four matchdays—thanks in part to a stunning 1-0 away win over Empoli on Matchday 4, courtesy of a Romagnoli own goal—now seem to have run out of steam. Today’s heavy 4-1 defeat adds to a negative trend that the Tuscan club’s management will need to reverse in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, all eyes are on league-leading Palermo, which, with 13 points in five matchdays, is continuing its extraordinary start to the season. Filippo Inzaghi’s Rosanero, led by a Joel Pohjanpalo in top form, have already shown they can win in every way: through their play, through grit, and even from the penalty spot. Mantova, held in check today by Pisa, remains the main rival on 11 points, while Südtirol, with today’s four-goal victory, is emerging as a strong contender for the role of the “third wheel” in a Serie B that promises to be balanced and fiercely contested until the very end.
