The Primavera is saved. At the last available opportunity. In the most beautiful way. Away in Naples, the Rossoblu Under 20 team wins 0-3 and will remain in the top youth league next season. After all, when you're already ahead after less than five minutes, everything becomes easier: Trepy unleashes a powerful run against three opponents and digs in the Azzurri goalkeeper.
Defender Eletto's desperate deflection only served to cast doubt on the scoresheet. But the goal was all the Frenchman's, increasingly Sardinian. Between one goal and the next, Cagliari had their first real scare as Napoli hit the crossbar with Raggioli's header.
A few minutes later, Gallego and his team could begin to shake off their nerves: Mendy, from over 30 meters, created a perfect rainbow over Ferrante. This sent Coach Rocco's Napoli into a tailspin, with the team making two substitutions by the 21st minute. But he couldn't reverse the trend, having remained without a goal: in the first half due to his ineffective attacking output, and in the second half due to Atanas Kehayov. The Cagliari goalkeeper also had his hands in this playoff after a season in which he proved himself a master of penalty kicks. Two strikes against the woodwork forced Napoli to further overstep their balance. And in the 84th minute, Cagliari capitalized: Mendy was entrusted with the transition. On the final afternoon of his extraordinary debut season in Primavera 1, the Senegalese also won a penalty. And Luca Costa, born in 2008, is icy cold and scores 0-3: he couldn't have picked a better day to break the deadlock. In a championship that, it's now certain, will also be Cagliari's next year. In Naples, this time, the play-off smiles on the four Moors.
NAPLES (3-5-2): Ferrante, Eletto (1' st Olivieri), Gambardella, De Luca (21' pt Garofalo), Caucci (30' st Gorica), De Chiara, Prisco (18' st Lo Scalzo), Borriello, Smeraldi, Pereyra, Raggioli (21' pt Baridò).
On the bench Pugliese, Spinelli, Cimmaruta, Nardozi, Torre, Genovese.
Coach Rocco
CAGLIARI (3-5-2): Kehayov, Cogoni, Franke, Marini, Raterink, Malfitano (Nunn 29' st), Russo (Pibiri 44' st), Tronci, Marini, Trepy (Costa 21' st), Mendy (Sugamele 44' st). On the bench: Auseklis, Lo Verde, Doppio, Hamdaoua, Prettenhoffer, Cardu, Goryanov.
Gallego Coach
Referee: Tropiano from Bari
Goals: Trepy (5') in the first half, Mendy (16'); Costa (41') in the second half.
Note: De Chiara booked for Napoli, Cogoni and Malfitano for Cagliari; added time: 2' and 6'
