League: Vitaioli delivers victory for La Fiorita as San Giovanni stun the Academy

The opening matchday of the 2023-24 BKN301 Campionato Sammarinese marks the historic debut of an Under-22 side in the competition. San Marino Academy U22, coached by Matteo Cecchetti, suffered at the start of the second half against a San Giovanni side driven on by Nicola Sartini and the Garcia brothers. The former broke the deadlock on 38 minutes, latching onto a through ball from Azael Garcia to beat Battistini. On the restart after the interval, Tognacci’s men struck twice in four minutes: D'angeli marked his debut in the red and black with a lightning-quick goal at the start of the second half, after just over 10 seconds. Then came a moment of magic for Nicola Sartini’s brace: favoured by a ricochet on the edge of the box, he conjured up a stunning curling effort from a tight angle to lift the ball over Battistini. The piece of play that produced the first ever San Marino Academy goal in the Campionato Sammarinese was decidedly less clean: effectively an own goal, put together by Celli and De Angelis. The latter, San Giovanni’s goalkeeper, failed to control a back-pass from his team-mate and the ball, slipping under his studs, slowly rolled into the net for 3-1. The referee officially attributed the own goal to Andrea Celli. In the closing stages the Biancazzurri piled forward in an attempt to get back into the game, but San Giovanni stayed compact and banked the first three points of their season. In Domagnano, against Libertas, La Fiorita did everything themselves – for better and for worse. The Montegiardino club opened the scoring inside three minutes through the Olcese-Guidi connection. The latter, back in yellow and blue after a season at Cosmos, made the most of his strike partner’s through ball to fire past Elia Benedettini from the heart of the penalty area. There was little to see from Libertas in the first half, while La Fiorita repeatedly struck the woodwork of the Granata goal. Despite dominating the opening 45 minutes, Manfredini’s men failed to double their lead and then had to contend with the setback of Tommaso Guidi’s sending-off just before stoppage time. La Fiorita played the second half a man down, but did not suffer excessively from the opponents’ powerplay. At least not until Costa’s friendly fire forced Zavoli to pick the ball out of the net on 69 minutes. The own goal for the equaliser, however, did not change the attitude of either side: La Fiorita immediately took control of the game again, despite being a man short, and restored their lead through substitute Matteo Vitaioli. The San Marino National Team captain made it 2-1 on 73 minutes, stealing in at the near post to turn in Arrigoni’s low cross. A ball won back in the attacking third then allowed the San Marino forward to go one-on-one with Benedettini and seal his personal brace three minutes from time. With a few late scares, but showing admirable technical assurance, La Fiorita came away with their first win of the year from a match full of potential pitfalls. Here is the full overview of the first matchday of the 2023-24 BKN301 Campionato Sammarinese. Highlights of all matches will be available tomorrow afternoon on TITANI.TV.

---