Outside90’s Joshua Scarcella breaks down the major talking points to emerge from Serie A matchday 37.
Luca Toni calls it a day
The six-foot-four giant chose the match against his former side Juventus as the last of his illustrious career, with a club that is now so close to his heart after spending such a short period of time there.
The World Cup winning striker, now famous for his crazy goal celebration, had the opportunity to put it on show one last time, scoring a panenka penalty against Neto during the first-half to give Verona the lead. They would go onto win in Toni’s 344th appearance, which handed the Bianconeri their first Serie A defeat of 2016.
Toni caught the attention of the Italian football world while at Palermo, then going on to win the Capocannoniere with Fiorentina and on a second occasion last season with Verona, choosing to end his career in the pursuit of helping the Gialloblu retain their Serie A status. Although not able to achieve this goal, the league farewells a player who is only one of 25 to score more than 105 goals, a true legend of the beautiful game.
Amadou Diawara proves red really does go fast
A trip to the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara is always a daunting prospect for any Serie A club, the home side are known for a resolute defensive setup, which can frustrate even the greatest of teams in order to achieve results.
This was not to be the case for Bologna’s match against Milan, as after just 12 minutes Diawara received the fastest two-cautioning red card of this Serie A campaign, placing the home side under pressure right from the start. It allowed the veteran centre-back Philippe Mexes to have three shots on target for the match, the highest amount in one game spanning his entire career.
Depsite the positive result away, Milan still fall short of sixth place due to Sassuolo’s away win, leaving the Rossoneri needing a cup triumph in order to compete in Europe next season.
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600 for the king of Rome
A surprise late call up for Euro 2016 could be on the cards for the veteran Francesco Totti, who has now scored four goals and created two assists in his last six matches. Even more impressive is that these contributions have come in only 132 minutes of football over that period.
It was perhaps Totti’s Serie A appearances record which outshone his recent achievements, however, becoming only the third player to reach 600 showings in the league all for the same club, and with a potential contract extension on the cards, it could mean he passes Javier Zanetti, with just 15 more matches to his name.
Totti also sits second on the list of most goals scored in the top-flight, but would require 27 more to eclipse Silvio Piola’s benchmark.
Francesco Totti’s last 6 Serie A matches:
6 chances created
6 shots on-target
4 goals
2 assistsSerie A-list. pic.twitter.com/Rf5gD0qhMS
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) May 8, 2016
More records tumble in Naples
As the weeks roll on, our discussion of team records broken by I Partenopei get increasingly frustrating for the fans, a largely successful season will go to waste, with a second place finish and no finals action in either the Italian cup or Europa League.
Despite this, Gonzalo Higuain continues his goal scoring form, which has his tally now standing at 33 and just three away from overcoming Gino Rossetti’s 36 goal effort for Torino all the way back in 1928-29. It is just the second time in 58 years that the 30 mark has been broken, with Toni being the other to achieve this during 2005-06 campaign.
2015-16 is also the most successful in club’s history for points collected in a single season, currently standing at 79 with one game to play.
The Rosaneri throw one more spanner in the works
Just as the club seemed down and out, an unbeaten four match run has given Palermo eight points out of a possible 12, pushing them up the table with a one point buffer on Carpi in the relegation zone.
An unbelievable final matchday could see either side in Serie B next seasion, a win against Verona at home would be enough for Palermo to stay in the top division, however, a win for Carpi away to Udinese and anything less than three points from the match in Sicily could give the Biancorossi their dream of a second season in the Serie A.
Whichever club is to retain their place, will need to use the summer period to strategically plan the season ahead well, both at board and personnel level.
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