Spezia vs Hellas Verona Preview

The curtain will fall on the  2022/23 Serie A season in a special way this Sunday when Spezia and Verona face off in a one-of-a-kind playoff game in Serie A.

Both sides are playing this game to decide who joins Cremenose and Sampdoria in Serie B after finishing on equal points after 38 matches.

Spezia will feel unlucky after narrowly missing out on a 17th-place finish in their last game of the season. Leonardo Semplici’s men were on their way to earning a credible 1-1 draw against Roma in the season’s finale, but a late goal from Paulo Dybala means that they have to decide their fate against Verona.

Coach Semplici has stressed that “mentality will be crucial” as his team needs to somehow shut out the pain of last weekend and a solitary win across their last 12 matches (D4, L7).

Playing at the neutral venue of Sassuolo’s home ground isn’t much of a positive for the Little Eagles who have lost on four of their previous five visits here (W1). However, there won’t be a mental block facing them as they were unbeaten in the two head-to-head games against Verona this season (W1, D1).

Like their opponents, Verona were minutes away from Serie A safety in their last outing, but two goals beyond the 80th minute condemned them to a 3-1 defeat at AC Milan on Sunday.

Manager Marco Zaffaroni spoke about having “played a good game” but stressed the need to “restart and prepare for a fundamental game.” They can make amends for losing 21 league games this season –the joint second-most losses in Serie A this season.

However, a run of four games without a win (D1, L3) has to end for them to achieve that here.

This game gets underway at 19:45 BST.

Other fixtures taking place this week in Serie A:

Serie A Table