Crotone found themselves on the receiving end of Spezia’s second-half brilliance, succumbing to a 3-2 defeat at the Stadio Alberto Picco on Saturday afternoon. Despite trailing at half-time, the hosts staged a breathtaking second-half comeback to prevail in this bottom-half-of-the-table Serie A clash.
It was ‘do or die’ for Crotone, as they entered the match nailed to the foot of the Serie A table, 11 points adrift of safety. Meanwhile, Spezia came into the meeting harboring a seven-point lead on 18th-placed Cagliari.
The visitors put up an enjoyable first-half performance, creating several decent scoring chances and pressing Spezia higher up the pitch.
After squandering a few opportunities to break the deadlock, the Pitagorici found the opener in a stunning fashion. Koffi Djidji chipped the ball over Ivan Provedel on the half-volley to put Crotone in front five minutes before the interval.
Despite starting the second half on a positive note, Serse Cosmi’s men suffered a setback just after the hour mark as Daniele Verde hammered the ball past Alex Cordaz.
In-form Crotone striker Simy Nwankwo scored the easiest of tap-ins to put the traveling side back in front in the 78th minute. Although it then looked like they may put an end to a three-match losing Serie A streak, everything fell apart for the Calabrian outfit in the final stage of the encounter.
First, Spezia captain Giulio Maggiore was left unmarked inside the 18-yard box to level the score in the 89th minute. Then, just three minutes later, Croatian center-back Martin Erlic headed home a rebound from point-blank range to send Crotone packing.
Spezia have extended their advantage on Cagliari to ten points at least until the Sardinians’ match against Inter tomorrow.
In the meantime, with eight Serie A fixtures left to go, Crotone face a Herculean task to pull off the impossible and preserve their top-flight status.