Football
PA Sport 8y

Carpi relegated despite Udinese win, Palermo beat Hellas Verona to stay up

Simone Verdi ensured Carpi had to be dragged back into Serie B kicking and screaming as his first-half brace clinched a 2-1 victory at Udinese.

On a night when the Bianconeri bid farewell to their 38-year-old striker Antonio Di Natale, who would manage to score one last goal for the club from the penalty spot, Carpi striker Verdi did all he could to keep the second-tier champions in the top flight.

He slotted an early penalty and, after Udinese's Cyril Thereau was dismissed, danced his way into a position to propel the Biancorossi two goals clear.

Unfortunately for the club from a small industrial town in Emilia-Romagna, 17th-placed Palermo got the win they needed to stay up, thus condemning Carpi.

Palermo squeezed past plucky Hellas Verona with only the odd goal in five securing their status in the Italian top flight.

Franco Vazquez lifted the Sicilians, who have employed seven different head coaches this season, before the confusion surrounding the double dismissal of Pawel Wszolek and Michel Morganella allowed basement boys Hellas to respond through Federico Viviani.

At that point Palermo were heading towards Serie B as their 18th-placed rivals Carpi were beating Udinese, but Enzo Maresca and Alberto Gilardino saved the day for Davide Ballardini's men, rendering Eros Pisano's late goal for Verona a mere consolation in a 3-2 defeat.

Fiorentina finished the season in fifth place after beating Lazio 4-2 on Miroslav Klose's curtain call at the Stadio Olimpico.

Briefly dislodged by surprise package Sassuolo, Fiorentina managed to reclaim their automatic Europa League berth thanks to a Matias Vecino brace and further strikes from Federico Bernardeschi and Cristian Tello.

Senad Lulic had given Lazio the early lead and the last goal of the evening was scored by German veteran Klose, whose second-half penalty was his last significant act in a Bianconeri shirt.

Goals from Massimo Maccarone and Piotr Zielinski boosted Empoli to a 2-1 final-day victory over Torino at the Stadio Carlo Castellani.

Maccarone, whose contract expires in the summer, opened the scoring in the 13th minute by firing Riccardo Saponara's pass beyond Daniele Padelli.

Torino hit the frame of the goal twice before the break and suffered further misfortune when Polish midfielder Zielinski converted Maccarone's assist in the 54th minute.

The visitors hit back through Joel Obi two minutes later -- the Nigerian heading home a Davide Zappacosta cross -- but Giampiero Ventura's men could not find an equaliser.

Jasmin Kurtic gave Atalanta cause to be optimistic at the end of a mediocre season by firing a late goal in a 2-1 win at Genoa.

The Slovenia midfielder poked the ball home to make it 2-1 with eight minutes remaining at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris, after Leonardo Pavoletti had cancelled out Marco D'Alessandro's opener for Atalanta.

All the goals arrived in the second half. D'Alessandro notched for the third time this term when he converted Alejandro Gomez's 53rd-minute cross but Genoa striker Pavoletti, who hopes to play for Italy at Euro 2016, soon stuck away a loose ball from a corner.

Chievo and Bologna concluded their respective Serie A campaigns by grinding out a 0-0 draw in torrential rain in Verona.

The mid-table sides had already achieved their mutual aims of staying up and looked complacent across 90 minutes at the Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi.

Roberto Donadoni may have coached Bologna for the last time as he has been linked with a return to his former club AC Milan.

^ Back to Top ^