A brace from the usual Lapadula allows Cagliari to beat Venice and achieve the goal of the semifinal against Parma. It ends 2-1 at the end of a two-faced match.
Before the start, the rossoblù number 9 was awarded as the best player of the season in the cadetteria. Ranieri, surprisingly, left Azzi and Pavoletti on the bench, with Obert fourth on the left and Luvumbo on the wing in an unprecedented 4-2-3-1. After a few minutes, Lapadula stumbles at the time of the shot, while a left foot from Luvumbo is intercepted by Joronen. Cagliari masters the field and, in the 14th minute, the 1-0 score arrives: cross from Nandez and, in front of goal, Lapadula smashes his head into the net. Venezia collects and wobbles, the rossoblùs take advantage of it and concede an encore in the 18th minute: on Dossena's pass, Carboni slips and Lapadula doesn't forgive.
At 2-0 Cagliari slows down and the players from the lagoon can be seen, but Radunovic keeps a good guard by anticipating Johnsen. In the 40th minute Zappa tries, primed again by Nandez, but the right-footed shot on Joronen's exit goes high. The last attempt, in the 46th minute, was by Johnsen, but Radunovic saved without problems.
In the second half, there's Goldaniga for Mancosu, but above all there's another Cagliari, who leaves the field to Venezia, who finds confidence and also finds the goal that reopens the match. It's the 7th minute when Ellertsson runs away on the left and puts in the middle where the newcomer Pierini anticipates Obert and makes it 2-1. Rossoblù in crisis, Ranieri runs to the restarts by first inserting Azzi for Obert, then Prelec and Rog for Luvumbo and Deiola and again Kourfalidis for Nandez. Very high tension, Venice throws in all the attackers available. The 16.000 of the Domus push Cagliari until the last of the 5 minutes of recovery. It ends 2-1 and now, in the semifinal, there is Parma.
