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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 The latter was eventually withdrawn.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.

Full time: Frosinone 3-0 Salernitana 

Soule 10’, Brescianini 35’, Zortea 85’.

26-04-2024 19:45 MatchDay 34 Stadio Benito Stirpe

Salernitana 3 - 0

Player statistic

1st half
    9' Junior Sambia
Matìas Soulé

10'     Marco Brescianini (Assist: Emanuele Valeri) 25'         36' Niccolò Pierozzi Nadir Zortea 41'     2nd half

Luca Mazzitelli

50'     Nadir Zortea (Assist: Marco Brescianini)

85'    

Match statistic

43 Possession % 57 11 Total shots 17 4 Shots on target 2 4 Shots off target 8 3 Blocked shots 7 7 Corners 3 1 Offsides 3 13 Fouls 10 Frosinone Salernitana

Starting lineups

80 Stefano Turati Goalkeeper 46' 5
Caleb Okoli Defender 78' 32 Emanuele Valeri Defender 19 Nadir Zortea Defender 20
Pol Lirola Defender 71' 6 Simone Romagnoli Defender 45
Enzo Barrenechea Midfielder 36
Luca Mazzitelli Midfielder 87' 4
Marco Brescianini Midfielder 18 Matìas Soulé Attacker 70
Walid Cheddira Attacker 78' 56
Benoît Costil Goalkeeper 22 Chukwubuikem Ikwuemesi Defender 3
Domagoj Bradaric Defender 17
Federico Fazio Defender 6
Junior Sambia Defender 66' 98 Lorenzo Pirola Defender 27 Niccolò Pierozzi Defender 46' 18
Lassana Coulibaly Midfielder 26
Toma Basic Midfielder 55
Emanuel Vignato Attacker

75' 33 Loum Tchaouna Attacker

Substitutes

3
Riccardo Marchizza Defender 8 Demba Seck Attacker 9
Kaio Jorge Attacker 16
Luca Garritano Midfielder 7 Jaime Báez Attacker 1
Pierluigi Frattali Goalkeeper 12
Reinier Midfielder 27 Arijon Ibrahimovic Attacker 17 Giorgi Kvernadze Attacker 29 Farès Ghedjemis Attacker 31 Michele Cerofolini Goalkeeper 46' 33
Kevin Bonifazi Defender 71' 30 Ilario Monterisi Defender 78' 11 Marvin Cuni Attacker 78' 14 Francesco Gelli Midfielder 87' 44
Simy Attacker 1 Vincenzo Fiorillo Goalkeeper 14
Shon Weissman Attacker 99 Mateusz Legowski Midfielder 36 Andres Sfait Midfielder 7 Agustín Martegani Midfielder 24 Marco Pellegrino Defender 65 Gregorio Salvati Goalkeeper 4
Triantafyllos Pasalidis Defender 46' 59
Alessandro Zanoli Defender 66' 11
Iron Gomis Midfielder

75'

This article first appeared on Football Italia and was syndicated with permission.

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