Hellas Verona pulled off arguably the most sensational comeback in Europe’s top-five leagues this season to beat newly-promoted Venezia on Sunday afternoon. Despite trailing 3-0 at half-time, Igor Tudor’s men picked themselves up in the second half to eke out a stunning 4-3 win in a seven-goal thriller at the Stadio Pierluigi Penzo.
Both sides are no strangers to turnarounds this season. A month ago, Venezia turned a 2-1 half-time deficit to stun Roma 3-2 in another action-packed home fixture. The Giallorossi also fell victim to Verona’s bounce-back ability, founding themselves on the wrong end of a 3-2 scoreline despite boasting a 1-0 half-time lead back in mid-September.
Meanwhile, the Gialloblu suffered a 3-2 defeat to Milan in mid-October despite taking a 2-0 lead at the break at San Siro. In an unexpected twist of fate, Turdor’s side came out on top of another jaw-dropping turnaround on Sunday. A seven-goal spectacle in Venice came just a few days after Verona’s uneventful scoreless draw with Cagliari at home.
Venezia hit the front via Pietro Ceccaroni’s tap-in 12 minutes into the game before Domen Crnigoj put daylight between the sides in the 19th minute. The Lagunari were reluctant to rest on their laurels and instead continued to push forward, with Thomas Henry pouncing on Verona keeper Lorenzo Montipo’s mistake to establish a three-goal cushion just before the half-hour mark.
The Frenchman’s strike looked to have put the game well beyond Verona’s reach. Little did anyone at the Stadio Pierluigi Penzo know the fortune would turn on Venezia so cruelly in the second half.
Henry fumbled the ball into his own net seven minutes into the second half to spark what turned out to be a truly remarkable comeback. Ceccaroni, who enjoyed a stellar first half, went from top to flop after the break. In a desperate attempt to save a goal, he handed the ball on the line to receive a straight red card and send Gianluca Caprari to the spot.
The Italian converted the penalty in the 65th minute, only two minutes before Giovanni Simeone restored parity with a delightful chip over the keeper. The Argentine striker came up huge in the 85th minute, producing a piece of art to catapult Verona to a dream victory. He unleashed a thunderous long-range effort into the top right corner to give this enthralling match a finish it deserved.
Another slice of Serie A magic.