Serie A: Venezia Claim Vital Victory Over Cagliari in Battle for Survival

Venezia earned a crucial 1-0 victory over Cagliari in a relegation showdown, thanks to Filip Stankovic's impressive saves and Francesco Zampano's goal.

Venezia emerged victorious in a hard-fought relegation battle against Cagliari, securing a crucial win thanks to two unconventional goals and a string of impressive saves from Filip Stankovic. This match was a pivotal clash between two teams languishing in the bottom three of the table.

Venezia entered the match on the back of two consecutive 2-2 draws against Como and Juventus, but their squad was depleted by injuries. Michael Svoboda was ruled out for the remainder of the season with a torn ACL, joining Alfred Duncan, Richie Sagrado, and Antonio Raimondo on the sidelines. Meanwhile, Cagliari were missing Zito Luvumbo due to an ankle sprain, which had contributed to their narrow 1-0 defeats to Fiorentina and Atalanta in their previous two outings.

Cagliari dictated the tempo of the game in the early stages, dominating possession and creating scoring opportunities at the Stadio Penzo. Joel Pohjanpalo squandered a promising chance after intercepting a misplaced pass from Nadir Zortea, failing to capitalize on the mistake. Mikael Ellertsson then made a crucial intervention, intercepting a Tommaso Augello cross at the far post to prevent Zortea from nodding in the opening goal.

Filip Stankovic was fortunate to avoid conceding a goal when Yerry Mina's header from Augello's free kick struck him in the face, resulting in an unconventional save. Against the run of play, Venezia seized the initiative and took the lead. Gaetano Oristanio burst down the left flank, evading a cluster of defenders, and delivered a pinpoint pull-back into the box. Augello failed to intercept the pass, allowing Francesco Zampano to tap in the opener from seven yards out.

The second half began with Cagliari pushing to equalize, and Nadir Zortea forced Filip Stankovic into a save with a shot that took a slight deflection. However, Venezia responded strongly, with Alen Sherri making two crucial interventions to deny Joel Pohjanpalo and Gianluca Busio. Jay Idzes then spurned a golden opportunity to capitalize on a chaotic clearance by Yerry Mina.

As the match intensified, Sherri made a spectacular save to tip a curling effort from Hans Nicolussi Caviglia over the crossbar. He was less convincing, however, when dealing with an Anderson snapshot, and was fortunate to escape with only a shaky save. Gaetano Oristanio also tried his luck from distance, but drilled his shot wide. Venezia thought they had doubled their lead on the hour mark, courtesy of a delightful Oristanio lob, but the goal was disallowed due to Pohjanpalo's marginal offside position, as confirmed by the SAOT (Semi-Automatic Offside Technology) review.

Venezia eventually managed to score their second goal, courtesy of a remarkable piece of individual effort from Marin Sverko. Sverko initiated a run from deep, stumbled, and fell, but still managed to toe-poke the ball towards goal, catching the Cagliari defenders and goalkeeper off guard.

Cagliari responded by introducing Leonardo Pavoletti, who made an instant impact. Pavoletti's towering header from Tommaso Augello's cross from the left forced Filip Stankovic to stretch, and the ball bent around the goalkeeper's glove, giving Cagliari a glimmer of hope. The Sardinians launched a fierce assault on the Venezia goal, with Stankovic producing a string of spectacular saves to preserve his team's lead. He fingertipped a Gabriele Zappa curler over the crossbar and then made a breathtaking double save from point-blank range to deny Gianluca Lapadula. In stoppage time, Stankovic rushed off his line to thwart Mattia Felici's effort at the back post, securing a vital win that lifted Venezia out of last place.