Salernitana 2 - 4 Empoli: Empoli squeeze through in breathtaking Salernitana match-up

Stefano Colantuono’s first game in charge of Salernitana ended in his side’s first-ever Serie A defeat to Empoli, with the visitor’s triumphing in a hectic 4-2 victory at the Estadio Arechi. 

In a match-up between last season’s top two in Serie B, both sides would’ve been desperate for points to avoid an immediate return to the second tier. However, it was Empoli who started the match looking best equipped to achieve Serie A survival, netting three inside 13 minutes to race towards a seemingly unassailable lead. Andrea Pinamonti started the scoring off by sliding a tame effort beyond an onrushing Vid Belec, before the visitors added a second in familiar fashion moments later, this time through Wolverhampton Wanderers loanee Patrick Cutrone.

Whilst Stefano Colantuono may have accounted for both of Empoli’s strikers finding the net, the Salernitana coach wouldn’t have expected veteran defender Stefan Strandberg to score past his own goalkeeper for the third. In the week leading up to Halloween, it may not have been a surprise to see a horror show unfold at the Arechi, and things got even worse for the hosts when ‘Gli Azzurri’ were awarded a penalty on the brink of HT. Pinamonti won the spot-kick and executed the perfect panenka to make it 4-0 at the break, much to the dismay of a visibly angry Belec in the ‘Garnets’ goal.

A seventh Serie A defeat of the season for Salernitana looked an inevitability, yet two second-half goals in a frantic 10 minute period offered the ‘Garnets’ a glimmer of hope. Luca Ranieri’s first strike in senior football was followed up by another own goal, this time through Empoli’s Ardian Ismajli. Intricate work from Franck Ribéry on the edge of the box worked a chance for Grigoris Kastanos, whose initial shot pinged back off the woodwork, before hitting the Albanian international and trickling across the line.

Empoli hadn’t conceded after the hour-mark in any of their Serie A fixtures so far, making a dramatic Salernitana comeback even less likely There would be no fairytale ending for Colantuono in his maiden ‘Garents’ match, with his new side now three points adrift at the foot of the division.