League: leaders all win on an afternoon featuring seven penalties

It will go down as one of the most prolific days for penalties, this Saturday of Matchday 4 in the 2024-25 Campionato Sammarinese. Two spot-kicks were awarded in every match, with the exception of Cosmos-Pennarossa, where the only penalty given saw Barbieri keep out Badalassi’s right-footed effort. The Gialloverdi had already taken the lead through Rosini, quickest to react to the goalkeeper’s save after a free-kick from the edge of the box. Pennarossa’s keeper was a major protagonist, pulling off at least three sensational saves. There was nothing he could do, however, in the final quarter of an hour, when Ben Kacem struck a classy brace within the space of a few minutes. Before the final whistle, there was glory for Serafini as well, who scored from close range to make it 4-0. The same scoreline keeps Virtus top of the table, level with Murata and La Fiorita. In the Montecchio clash, the Neroverdi opened and closed the scoring from the spot: Buonocunto early on and Angeli at the death provided half of the champions of San Marino’s goal haul. In between came the contributions of Lombardi and Pecci. The former, in particular, found the net at the end of a spectacular solo run down the wing, making it 2-0 in the first half. The Rossoblù defence, on the other hand, were complicit in the move that left Pecci one-on-one with Simone Benettini, and he duly slotted home. The games in Domagnano and Fiorentino were much more closely fought, ending with narrow wins for Murata and La Fiorita. In the “colour derby”, it was Tre Fiori’s Gialloblù who squandered the chance to break the deadlock: on 15 minutes Zavoli saved a Prandelli penalty. At the other end, on the very next attack, the pill became even harder to swallow for Girolomoni’s men as they fell 1-0 behind to a long-range right-footed strike from Vitaioli. La Fiorita doubled their lead on 38 minutes, when Olcese saw his penalty saved by Nardi but reacted first to tuck away the rebound. Then, on 43 minutes, Prandelli, picked out by Manfroni, pulled one back. Any hopes of a second-half siege from Tre Fiori remained purely theoretical, though, as they slipped to a second straight league defeat. There was a thrilling finale between Murata and Juvenes-Dogana. The Bianconeri earned a penalty after an awkward coming-off-the-line by Gentilini, who redeemed himself superbly by saving Teixeira’s right-footed effort from twelve yards. Teixeira would still go on to grab the winning touch late on, finishing in the box after a brilliant back-heel assist from Pineschi. Sealing Murata’s return to winning ways – they are joint-leaders with Virtus and La Fiorita after four rounds – was Elia Benedettini: the San Marino international goalkeeper saved a second consecutive penalty, denying Merli the joy of making it 1-1 with the very last kick of the game.

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