Championship: only four will remain

Semi-final mission for the eight teams still battling for the 2021-22 Scudetto. Only one tie remains perfectly balanced after the first 90 minutes of the quarter-finals: Tre Fiori and Faetano will play all their cards from a level starting point. Two corners decided the 1-1 draw in Domagnano, a scoreline that leaves almost everything virtually unchanged. Almost, because Tre Fiori do in fact retain the advantage of their regular season position and therefore, unlike Faetano, will have two results out of three in their favour tomorrow to book a place in the penultimate stage of the competition. For their part, Faetano have no option but to win, as is the case for Virtus and La Fiorita, who were beaten in the first leg and therefore, despite their excellent positions in the Single Group, now find themselves forced to overturn the outcome of the opening 90 minutes without being able to rely on a draw – something Pennarossa and Fiorentino, currently ahead in their ties thanks to Giacomoni’s own goal and Abouzziane’s superb strike, can instead afford to do. Enrico Malandri will, however, have to come up with an alternative to Maximiliano Baizan, who is suspended due to an accumulation of yellow cards. Also banned by the Sports Judge is a Tre Penne player, with the club the only side able to manage a substantial advantage thanks to their performance in the first of the two legs against Libertas. Of course, the 2-0 lead built through goals by Badalassi and Gai is no absolute guarantee, and so Ceci’s team will have to be sharp in snuffing out all the ambitions of the granata, who need to win by at least three clear goals and will therefore presumably look to take the game to their opponents right from the opening stages. As mentioned, there is one absentee for Stefano Ceci: no second-leg quarter-final for Paolo Vandi, sent off on Wednesday for dangerous play. Live coverage on TITANI.TV of the matches in Montecchio (Pennarossa - Virtus) and Dogana (Libertas – Tre Penne). Here is the quarter-final line-up in the championship:

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